Uchiha Genius
by ItalianPirateGypsy
Summary: Itachi Uchiha would do everything that he could in order to protect his precious people, and that included the people of the Leaf. After meeting a masked man with a sharingan during an ANBU mission, Itachi is left to make choices about his life that no one should have to make, but with Shisui and Kakashi at his side, will he end up making the right ones?
1. Prologue

**I suppose a disclaimer should go here somewhere, so here. I don't own Naruto, Shippuden, or the characters officiated and created by Kishimoto. Yay, never having done this before! It's kind of thrilling, in a throwing up butterflies kind of way... So, enjoy! I hope you like the prologue! :)**

**IPG**

* * *

Prologue

As Shisui stood before him with his hand extended forward offering the only eye Shisui had left, Itachi couldn't help but wonder how life had come to this. The thought of taking that eye from his best friend made Itachi squirm uncomfortably on his insides, but it seemed as if he and Shisui had run out of time and were now backed into a corner facing a no-win situation. The sound of the waterfall behind them was deafening which made it impossible for Itachi to think, and the mist choked the air right out of his lungs to the point that he wished he could simply lay down and sleep and never have to think again. In all honesty, they were fucked.

Itachi tentatively reached out and took the treasured eye from Shisui, lingering and savoring the touch of best friends and brothers for one final time before Shisui stepped back and over the edge of the cliff. Itachi quickly tried grasping for any part of his friend as he fell, but all that came up with damp air as Itachi watched his best friend fall to his death in the river they had spent so much of their time in together.

"Fuck!" Itachi screamed though it was immediately drowned out by the roaring of the waterfall just ten feet from him. Knowing that he couldn't stay there for much longer, Itachi picked himself up and numbly started running back towards the Uchiha compound through the trees. He needed to figure this out, this could all be solved and everyone could be saved, he just needed time. Of course, he had no time. Shisui committed suicide for him and that only meant that he had less than 24 hours to figure out something lest the entirety of the Uchiha Clan suffer.

* * *

As the sun rose the following morning, Itachi was left with an emptiness in his chest that he knew could only be filled by one person, and that person was dead. He quickly dressed himself and walked downstairs. He entered the kitchen where his mother spent all of her hours and where he knew he would find his family waiting for him to eat breakfast with them before they all went about their business for the day.

"About time you woke up Itachi," Mikoto said cheerfully to her eldest son and he stonily sat at his place at the table. Something seemed wrong, but she knew that she would never get it out of him until they were alone, so she felt it was alright for her to wait.

"Good morning, nii-san," said Sasuke as he quickly cleared his academy books from the table just as his mother set his breakfast out in front of him. "Are you going to let me train with you today, aniki?"

Itachi smiled sadly to himself before quickly covering it with his infamous Uchiha mask. "Not today, Sasuke."

"Oh, but you promised! Can you at least walk me to school?" Sasuke pouted to his older brother who had to sigh in defeat.

"Yes, I'll walk you to the Academy," he said as he leaned back against his chair, face still devoid of all emotions.

"Enough chatter," grumbled Fugaku, who quickly said, "Itadakimasu," before taking a bite of his own breakfast. It was echoed by the other Uchiha at the table, and they all seemed to be happily enjoying their meals except Itachi.

Itachi could truly say that even the thought of food made his own stomach churn. How could he possibly enjoy something knowing that Shisui wasn't there to enjoy it with him? He took a few bites here and there to appease his mother, but most of his breakfast time was spent pushing his food around his plate like he had when he was a child and didn't like something that his mother cooked. He quickly excused himself from the table and made his way up the stairs to sit in his room again. He needed to go through all of his notes on last time before he could even attempt to start this nightmare of a day, but he would accomplish his tasks all the same.

He quickly set fire to the notebook in his hands and let it burn into unrecognizable ash as he made his way back down the stairs to escort his brother to school as he promised. He sat on the porch ledge putting his ninja sandals on in a robotic fashion before he felt the presence of a group of young Uchiha men that he had known from his childhood and being in the Academy.

"Hey, where were you last night?" asked one of the men.

Itachi looked at them slowly after he had finished putting on his sandals. Were they accusing him of what he thought they were accusing him of? "It's none of your concern," he said calmly, but his insides were warring with him to draw a weapon and fight them for even speaking to him.

"Really? 'Cause we found a note from Shisui, but he just isn't the kind of person that would go off and kill himself," said another of the men, and Itachi had had enough of this conversation already. He threw a kunai into the wall on his right that cracked the cement there and created a small dust cloud to swirl around him.

"Well, you know what? I was-" Itachi began, but Fugaku interrupted him.

"Itachi," growled the clan leader, and Itachi could do nothing but secretly thank his father for stepping in. He kept the mask firmly on his face as Fugaku stepped past him to speak with the other members of the police force. Itachi glanced into the house and saw Sasuke standing behind the wall. The boy flinched when their eyes met, and Itachi knew why. His Mangekyo Sharingan had activated unintentionally, but it no longer mattered anymore, and the police force would have a tail on him for the rest of the day.

Knowing that he could no longer walk Sasuke to school, he hung his head low before jumping onto the rooftops to make his way into the forest. He could bide his time for a few hours at least.

* * *

When the time finally came to meet up with the mysterious masked man with the single Sharingan eye, Itachi was cold and devoid of everything that his heart had been showing off for all of the 16 years he had been alive. This was his only option, his only chance to save the village no matter how painful it seemed, and he was going to go through with it as best he could.

"Shame that so much talent was wasted just like that," said the masked figure as he swirled into existence from thin air. He was referring to Shisui, but Itachi wasn't in the mood to speak. They had a task to complete, and Itachi didn't need to get distracted with thoughts at this point.

"It's time," he said from the rooftop they were perched on and quickly shunshinned away to begin the gruesome task of slaughtering every Uchiha residing in the Uchiha District, all except one.

Itachi began with the most distant of Uchiha in his family tree and worked his way towards the Uchiha mansion. His parents would be waiting for him, that much he knew, but the thought of walking into that house fought against every instinct he had that told him to flee. He dispatched of his aunt and uncle that ran the flower shop next door, and then he realized that there was no turning back from this now.

He found Fugaku and Mikoto in their bedroom on the second floor. Mikoto seemed shocked and saddened when Itachi appeared before them, but his father was nothing but a proud man so utterly disappointed in his son.

"Kneel there on the floor," said Itachi as he tried to avoid looking at their faces. He couldn't stand this. It was so very wrong.

"So this is the path you've chosen?" asked Fugaku as he complied to his son's request. "The village over your family?"

"Yes, Father," he said trying hard not to let his voice break or waiver.

"Itachi, I-" Mikoto began, but Fugaku interrupted her.

"Itachi, We're proud of you and Sasuke," he said letting his head hang for just a moment. "You'll look after your brother, won't you?"

"Yes, Father," Itachi choked as tears began to stream down his face. _Fuck, what are you doing? _Without hesitating any longer, Itachi cut down his parents in cold blood before moving out into the darkness of the night.

Itachi stood on the roof of his childhood home scanning the destruction of the clan that once had held so much prestige in Konoha. He allowed the tears to flow for a moment before he caught sight of a small spiky-haired figured running in his direction. The Uchiha genius quickly wiped the tears from his face and jumped across the rooftops until he landed on top of one of the telephone poles closest to his little brother. He watched the panic and fear rise within Sasuke and wished with all of his being that this wasn't the way things had to be, but there was nothing that he could do, and Sasuke would soon know just how cruel this world can be.

He quickly jumped away from his perch just as Sasuke turned to look in his direction. The boy quickly ran in the direction of their house, and Itachi wanted nothing more than to stop him in his tracks and pull him away from this horrid dream, but it wouldn't happen and now was his only moment, the truest of tests, to deliver the killing blow and top off the whole charade.

"Mother? Father?" Sasuke said in the smallest of voices that Itachi had ever heard. _Why couldn't he just wake up now?_

"Sasuke," said Itachi as he slunk from the shadows of the room. Sasuke had jumped at the sound of his name, but had quickly recovered at the familiarity of his brother's voice, but this wasn't his brother.

"Nii-san, w-what have you done?" asked Sasuke as he backed away from Itachi who continued to walk closer to him.

Itachi shunshinned himself so that he was standing between their parents' bodies on the floor and Sasuke. His sudden appearance startled the boy so that he tripped and almost landed in the vast pool of slick, red blood on the floor before running out of the room and down into the street. _That's right, little brother. Get away from this._

Itachi quickly followed Sasuke into the street. The streetlights made the feeling of the night even more ominous, and Itachi could see that Sasuke was shaking uncontrollably.

"Itachi, why?" asked Sasuke who looked the way a canary does when it's about to be devoured by a cat. _Helpless._

"It's simple, Sasuke. I was not being challenged here any longer. The ultimate challenge, to overcome my attachments, has been successful and now all that's left is you," he purred in the cruelest of ways he could manage. If only he could just touch him…

"What do you mean? But Mother and Fa-"

"Sasuke, I killed them. I killed them all and now I'm leaving you… alive. You are the only one that has the potential to match me in skill, the only one that could pose any real challenge towards me at all. You should muster all of the anger, hate, vengeance, all of it to come and find me one day, to kill me for what I've done, and until that day comes, you will relive this night as many times as you can until you break. Only then will you be strong enough to defeat me, little brother," said Itachi with a sneer. If only he could just hug him…

"But, I-" Sasuke was then startled by the appearance of the Mangekyo Sharingan that caught his attention and then engulfed his world in all the painful memories of this night to be relived eternally in the span of only three days. If only he could just make it all go away.

Itachi watched his brother fall into the mud in the street knowing that he couldn't catch him or even touch him at all. A few tears escaped his eyes but were quickly covered by the rain that began falling around him. He looked up and saw the masked man standing on the rooftops above him and he knew that it was time for them to go. _Oh how cruel life can be,_ thought Itachi as he jumped off after the mysterious man with the Sharingan. He was now going to be labeled as an S-class missing nin, the most dangerous of all those ninja that defect from their home villages, and he would be joining the Akatsuki. _How delightful!_ he thought with all the sarcasm his inner voice could muster. _Just great…_

As he followed the masked man closely through the forest in the dead of night, he realized just how far he had come. He was halfway there, he could do this! But, no matter how many times he told himself that, his inner mantra turned into something very different. _Just wake up. Just wake up. Just wake up. _He would certainly be having nightmares after this.

* * *

**Well, there you have it. My very first ****prologue! I'm so happy! :')**

**Until next time (which should be like tomorrow or the day after that) have a good night!**

**IPG**


	2. Chapter 1

**Hello again so soon. I have like 7 chapters of this written already so yeah... Still not ****claiming Naruto!**

**Enjoy!  
IPG**

* * *

Chapter 1  
(3 years earlier)

Itachi couldn't pinpoint the exact point in which he had found more interest in his brother, but he was on his way home from an ANBU mission and found himself thinking of his little brother again. The thoughts were innocent enough. He'd only wished to feel Sasuke's raven hair between his fingers or kiss that beautiful forehead instead of poke it whenever the boy was being foolish, but the young man had decided to keep his distance instead and that was becoming more difficult as the months went by.

Being distracted and missing home, Itachi barely registered the metallic ring of a kunai flying through the air, almost striking him in the side. He silently cursed himself for allowing one of his comrades to deflect the weapon when he could have easily taken care of it himself had he not been lost in his own thoughts. The Uchiha prodigy would certainly be hearing a lot about his lapse in perfection for the next decade at the very least.

He decided that using only one weapon in this fight would prove as an excellent way to take his mind off of his otouto and gain a few brownie points from the other ANBU on his team. _Maybe if he made this a worthwhile fight, _he thought, _he could get them talking about it instead of his own royal fuck up. _Itachi decided the only way to be truly impressive would be to use something non-traditional as a weapon. He whipped out one of the scrolls from his pouch and did the necessary hand seals to unlock the first thing, whatever that was Itachi couldn't remember, and unrolled the scroll. It revealed his metal traveling tea cup which he had started going on missions with after he realized that anything porcelain broke far too easily even while sealed inside of a scroll.

The young Uchiha picked it up and rolled it in his hand. His smirk turned into one of evil amusement as he realized just how much fun this particular fight was becoming. He caught one of his colleagues gawking at the stunt he was about to pull as he rushed the man that had caught him off guard with the flying kunai.

Itachi swiftly and smoothly jumped at the man, landing a direct hit to the man's chest with a force that gave Itachi a chance to flip backwards and land gracefully on his feet while the other man fell flat on his back with the teacup sticking out of his chest. The young ANBU was completely stoic as he pulled the cup from the body. The man was dead before he had hit the ground and with the adrenaline coursing through his system, Itachi turned ever so smoothly in search of his next target.

He found the same man staring with his mouth open at the stunt that had just played out before him. With the other ANBU thoroughly distracted, it didn't take long for the enemy to find his opening and go for the killing blow. Of course, Itachi would never let one of his comrades fall before his eyes, so he moved forward swiftly and grabbed the arm of the enemy that was holding three shuriken and was poised to throw them in the Konoha ANBU's general direction. Itachi, without much effort, flipped the man over his shoulder to land flat on his back.

Ever the honorable ninja, Itachi made sure that his comrade had composed himself enough to take over the fight again and leapt away to help his captain fight off another enemy that seemed to be proving rather difficult to defeat.

Of course, Itachi's captain didn't seem entirely too surprised by the protege's choice in weapons since he often felt bored using the same weapons and techniques over and over, but he could honestly say he had never seen such a creative use for a teacup before. He decided that this mission, and particularly this battle, may be cause to promote the young man that had come to his aid against their common foe.

The small fights surrounding them were slowly drawing to a close, and Itachi suspected that in a last ditch effort to do at least a little damage, an enemy that had been hiding rushed from his spot amongst the bushes in an attempt at landing a blow to his captain's head, but the Uchiha was much faster and slapped the rim of his teacup into the man's left shoulder rendering the arm useless and gaining a scream of agony from the man before he quickly removed the cup from the perfectly circular wound to slap it against the man's stomach. This earned him a grunt of surprise before he pulled the cup out and slapped it into the side of the man's head with enough force to shatter his skull and kill him without Itachi even having to blink.

At this point, Itachi had gained himself an audience of his comrades who had already finished their separate battles with only minor injuries to show for it. Most of them were gaping at him like fish with mixed degrees of admiration, but his captain was just shaking his head with his hands on his hips as if he were going to scold the Uchiha for his stunts today.

With small traces of anxiety leaking into his mind, Itachi moved rather rigidly to look at his captain, but he maintained his same nonchalant expression as to fool the rest of his team.

"Uchiha," said the captain who had finally stopped shaking his head and had dropped one of his hands to his side.

Itachi relaxed at the calm manner displayed by his captain. Despite his initial beliefs, Itachi knew, now, that the aura of lazy calmness was anything but when it came to the Copycat Ninja.

"Yes, Captain Hatake?" he asked with a sort of politeness in his voice. Itachi watched as the man smiled through his mask which let the Uchiha relax entirely.

"I want us to pay a visit to the Hokage when we get back to Konoha, so be ready. Otherwise," he said emphasizing a dramatic pause, "I would like to know why your choice of weapons was a teacup instead of the plethora of actual _weapons_ in your pouch or the katana on your back?"

A chorus of murmurs ran through the men witnessing the exchange, each of them wondering the same thing but too afraid to ask the stone-faced Uchiha anything. Itachi smirked at this and said, "I was getting bored and decided to challenge myself. Originally, it was simply a challenge in using only one weapon to do battle but when I saw the scroll containing all my supplies, I made the hand seals and decided to use whatever unsealed itself first. The first item just happened to be this very useful teacup."

"So you just decided that it would be fun to kill bandits with a teacup," scoffed one of the other men on the team.

"Maa, maa," said the captain after it was clear that the Uchiha wasn't going to respond to his teammate's statement. "We should probably be on our way now that we've taken care of these guys." He made a sweeping gesture to all of the bodies scattered on the forest floor.

Captain Hatake placed a hand on Itachi's shoulder before leaping off into the tree tops. The Uchiha protege made to follow when everything froze around him and the sky started bleeding red. Itachi wasn't sure when or how he was suddenly trapped inside of a genjutsu, but the ninja was powerful because even Itachi couldn't break out of it.

Then, a figure swathed in a black cloak with an orange mask appeared before him. Itachi wouldn't allow himself to panic, even in a situation like this, so he stood as proud and stoic as any great Uchiha would.

"Itachi Uchiha," said the figure. "Based on your performance today it is very likely that you will be promoted to ANBU captain upon your arrival into Konoha."

Itachi was unphased by this since he knew his skill set far outranked many of his peers. He decided to remain silent and only nod in permission for the man to continue.

A chuckle came from behind the mask as if he was amused by the younger man's behavior. "In a little over three years we will be meeting again. You will ask for my assistance in completing a mission that you absolutely will not be able to complete on your own. Once that happens, I will ask that you join my organization in exchange for my services to which you will have no choice in the matter but to accept. This is, of course, for reasons that I cannot explain to you at the present time; however, I will give you a fair warning to enjoy your precious people while they are still able to be enjoyed. Until next time Itachi Uchihai…" And then the man vanished into a swirling vortex, and the jutsu over Itachi was broken.

Itachi glanced at his team who were all jumping into the trees after their captain as if nothing had even happened. He shook his raven head and leapt after the rest of his team. The Uchiha, in a way, believed what the man had told him, but he didn't have a very good feeling about what he said. _Join a group of obvious rogue ninja? Enjoy my precious people? _Itachi wondered if Sasuke was being threatened. He wasn't sure that a mission that destroyed his family was even worth it.

The Uchiha decided that he would have enough time to ponder the mysterious man's words when he returned home, so he set his jaw and focused on ending this mission before anything more could set them off course.

* * *

It took another full day to make it back to Konoha. Even if they didn't run into anymore trouble after encountering the bandits and the masked man, Itachi was still relieved and ready to be home when the massive gates and wall came into view. He couldn't be too thankful though since the captain wanted him to visit with the Hokage before they did anything else.

The team decided it would be best to turn in their mission report before heading home. The Sandaime was pleased and dismissed them within a few minutes, but Itachi remained with Captain Hatake standing against the wall by the door just in case he decided to escape. Of course, being the ninja he was meant that he would stay and deal with whatever needed to be dealt with, but he had to smirk at the display.

"Itachi Uchiha, your captain has brought to my attention your performance over this last mission," Sandaime said with his familiar serious old man expression.

"Did I do something inadequate, Hokage-sama?" ask the young Uchiha who inaudibly gulped though he knew there were very few things he did wrong on the mission. He wondered, silently, if one of his teammates had told the Hokage of his near brush with a kunai. Could that even be enough reason to suspend him?

"On the contrary, young man," said Hiruzen with an obvious mirth in his voice. "It seems that even at your young age you are managing to far surpass shinobi with mastered skill sets who are twice your age. Though death is an unavoidable subject in our line of work, I must commend you on your innovation in killing boredom as well as enemies."

"Thank you, Hokage-sama," said Itachi who continued to keep his cool Uchiha exterior even though he was reeling for the information that he knew was coming next.

Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled at the ever professional Uchiha shinobi. "In light of the recent events and all of your progress, hard work, and vigilance, I, Hiruzen Sarutobi, Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure, formally promote Itachi Uchiha to ANBU captain in my shinobi forces. With Captain Kakashi Hatake as witness, do you accept your new rank as captain and swear to continue to hold the safety of Konoha and its citizens above all else?"

Itachi didn't have to think about his answer, he was almost smiling at the Hokage by the time he finished speaking.

"Hai!" He nodded to the Hokage who simply waved him off.

"Good, then you both are dismissed," said Sarutobi-sama before he turned back to the paperwork on his desk.

Itachi turned to walk towards the door, passing Kakashi on his way. Once they were safely outside the Hokage's office, they easily fell into step with one another.

The young Uchiha could feel the slight tension in the air and was relieved when Kakashi finally cleared his throat to speak.

"So, uhm, I believe congratulations are in order. How would you like to come for a drink with me and a few of the other ANBU?" he asked as he rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.

"Thank you for your offer Kakashi-sempai; however, I must decline. Though I have no doubt in your abilities to get me drinking at a bar no matter how underaged I am, I must say that a hot shower seems much more forgiving to my exceptionally tired body. We have all the time in the world to celebrate, after all. So, perhaps next time Hatake-san," said the Uchiha in all his seriousness. He had known of the captain's advances, but he chose to ignore them for as long as he possibly could. He really only cared about Sasuke and missions nowadays anyway.

With the rejection firmly in place, Itachi took to the rooftops in the direction of the Uchiha Manor and his darling little brother.

* * *

It didn't take long for news of Itachi's return to reach the ears of his little brother. Somehow, Sasuke never missed anything when it came to his aniki, but that only made Itachi's affection grow stronger. Fortunately, when the spiky raven head came poking around a corner, the elder Uchiha brother still had some news that could still amaze and inspire his otouto's curious, young mind.

"Aniki!" came the little voice of his seven year old brother as he ran headlong into Itachi's chest. The older raven took stock of the child who was only six years younger but always seemed so much more fragile than any other person Itachi knew.

"Foolish otouto," said Itachi while petting the soft raven spikes. "Can't you at least wait for me to get through the front door?"

The smaller boy stepped back with a sheepish look on his face, and Itachi couldn't help but truly smile at the cute expression.

"I'm sorry, Oniisan," said Sasuke with a small tint of blush on his pale face, but all the magic of his innocence was dispelled when Sasuke turned a toothy grin on his older brother and asked if they could train together.

Itachi chuckled a little before patting his brother's head and walking towards the kitchen. He assumed dinner would probably be ready and that he should say hello to their mother before their father got home.

Followed by the constant begging from the little annoyance, Itachi found his mother slicing tomatoes at the counter for what he could only assume to be a salad. He only hoped that the smallest member of their family didn't get to them before dinner or else there wouldn't be any left.

"Welcome home, Itachi Dear," came the affectionate, feminine voice of his mother from across the kitchen. Itachi had never been one to get extraordinarily close to anyone but of the few people he did hold close, his mother was always good at making him feel loved and welcomed.

"Hello, Mother," said Itachi as he pecked her on the cheek before taking a seat at the table. The young man briefly noticed that he was almost taller than his mother even if longer missions were never kind to a ninja's body.

After finishing her chore, Mikoto handed a slice of tomato to each of her boys before joining them at the table to chat while the roast finished cooking. Sitting next to her eldest son, she reached out and took his hand in hers to give it a gentle squeeze.

"It's good to have you home," she said in her sweet, motherly way. "I like having my boys where I can keep an eye on them. Isn't that right, Sasuke?"

"Yes, Mother," said the younger boy with another cheeky grin.

"And it's a good thing you arrived when you did, I'm not sure field rations and soldier pills would have been able to sustain your rail-thin body much longer at the rate you're growing." She winked at Sasuke, who giggled in his hands, before turning a worried, loving smile to the older boy.

"It's alright Mother, I'm fine. Two months didn't do any kind of permanent damage. Plus, your cooking should fix me up in no time at all," said the young Uchiha who gave a reassuring hand squeeze in thanks for her affection and worry. "Anyway," he began, "I have good news that I would like to share with both of you before Father gets home and all of Konoha finds out. I was promoted to ANBU Captain upon my return to the village. This makes me the youngest captain in the history of Konoha."

"Wow, nii-san," said Sasuke with a sparkle in his eyes. "I hope I get to be as great a shinobi as you one day."

The youngest Uchiha was practically beaming, and Itachi couldn't help but to reach across the table and ruffle his spiky hair.

"You'll just have to keep training and working hard Sasuke. You should even keep me as an obstacle to surpass. Don't ever let me be your limit to how great you can be."

Somehow, Itachi knew that his words wouldn't sink into the younger boy's head just yet, but he figured this particular lesson was one that was worth repeating.

"No matter what either of you do," chimed their mother, "I want you to know that I'm always proud of everything you accomplish." She gave each of them a warm smile before they were all startled by the timer on the roast. Itachi, of course, showed no outward signs of being at all affected even though he was internally trying to will his heart back to beating normally.

Itachi watched his mother stand gracefully and glide to the oven to ready their meal. He admired how beautiful and at peace she seemed in the confines of the kitchen, and though he liked cooking, he never felt the same kind of tranquility that he assumed his mother did.

When the roast was cooling on the stove, Mikoto turned to lean against the counter and said, "Well even though your return home is cause enough for celebration on our end, now I guess we have even more of a reason!"

Itachi felt the irritation like waves drowning the happy mood that the three Uchiha's had created. The newly appointed ANBU captain turned his attention to the door, and he saw Sasuke noticeably pale from the corner of his eye even if the boy was exceptionally pale already.

The Uchiha prodigy stood before the door came crashing open to reveal a rather irritated Fugaku Uchiha.

"Hello, Father," greeted Itachi with his expressionless mask planted firmly over his beautiful features.

"What is cause for extra celebration at this house?" asked the Uchiha patriarch, completely ignoring what his eldest son had said.

Mikoto had gone back to plating their dinner, and Sasuke had found something completely fascinating about his hands folded in his lap.

"It's nothing Father. I was only promoted to ANBU Captain today upon my return home from that extended mission to Amegakure," said Itachi as he was the only one qualified to respond to his father's inquiry.

The older man grunted. "From now on, I would like to be informed of anything else that might happen like this in the future. Understood? In fact, I want you to come directly to the office after visiting the Hokage when you return from each mission."

"Hai, Father," said an inwardly disgruntled Uchiha protege. He assumed this was because his father was mad about being the last one in their family to find out about Itachi's accomplishment. After all, Fugaku did consider himself the driving force and natural donor of all the young Uchiha's finely honed skills and talents.

"Dinner's ready," said Mikoto as sweetly as she could to try and dispell some of the copious amounts of tension filling her normally peaceful kitchen domain.

The clan leader grunted and then took his place at the head of the dinner table.

"Itadakimasu," he said once everyone was seated, and Itachi could tell that all pleasantries were no longer welcome in their household that night.

* * *

**So there we go! Another chapter.**

**IPG**


	3. Chapter 2

**No, Naruto's not mine. I hate writing disclaimers, and I hate reading them with every chapter... I hope you all understand and feel the same!**

**Anyway, Enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 2

The meal was carried out in complete silence. By the end, Itachi couldn't wait to be excused though he was told to attend the clan meeting being conducted the next day.

He had agreed, of course, since he was the future clan leader, and he hadn't attended one since before his two month mission, but meetings like those would only dampen his already drenched mood.

He and Sasuke were dismissed to their rooms shortly after their plates were cleared. He had ruffled Sasuke's raven locks before walking straight to his room.

It was exactly the way he had left it which meant that he wouldn't have to check to see if anything was missing. He lay on his bed listening to the faint argument his parents were having in their bedroom that was located directly below his own.

Itachi was grateful that Sasuke couldn't hear this despite the fact that the youngest Uchiha was old enough now to guess what was going on. It was in moments like these that Itachi even wondered why he bothered telling anyone anything anymore.

The argument of today happened to be about how Fugaku thought that Mikoto coddled Itachi too much for him to make any real progress despite his recent promotion. Apparently, parental affection wasn't something that was necessary when it came to being a successful clan head.

Itachi scoffed over that idea since Fugaku's sons hated him for not only his coldness towards them but also for the way he sometimes treated their mother. Somehow, the young Uchiha couldn't see himself turning completely cold to any of his precious people, and he assumed his offspring, if he decided to have any, would someday be among them.

After twenty minutes of listening to them, Itachi decided he had had enough of all the people he called family for one night and slipped out his window. Sasuke's light was out, and his form could be seen peacefully sleeping, which made it easier for Itachi to slip out of the Uchiha grounds and into the slowly dying village.

* * *

Itachi jumped from roof to roof, occasionally checking the streets below whenever he passed a bar. Eventually, he found what he was looking for and leapt gracefully into landing directly in front of Kakashi.

"Yo," came his dull voice, but Itachi could feel the increase in his heart rate and knew he was probably both startled and aroused by the appearance of the young man.

"Is that offer still open?" asked the raven in the most appealing way he could manage given the public setting. He figured alcohol might be the best way to lighten his mood and forget most of what had transpired over the evening since they had parted ways.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes and gave the uchiha a once over. Itachi thought it was understandable since he had been avoiding the silver haired man for almost a year now. So, Itachi figured the easiest and fastest way to get what he wanted was to flash the infamous Uchiha glare at the older man.

Of course, that did the trick, and Kakashi motioned for the young Uchiha to follow him into the bar.

* * *

Itachi couldn't help but feel disgusted by the smell of nicotine that was thickening the air, but he continued following the older captain to a secluded corner table where he sat down to wait for Kakashi to come back with a bottle of sake and two shallow porcelain cups.

_This is it, _thought Itachi as he took a small cup filled with clear liquid. He didn't think it smelled too bad and turned his attention back to the man that was happily observing him.

Kakashi held his cup up and said, "Here's to your promotion and a very successful mission."

Itachi lifted his cup to toast with his colleague but paused before the porcelain could touch. "And a toast to better friendships," he added with the flash of a coy smile before clinking and downing the liquid in his cup. He figured he might as well see exactly how far he could take this night with the older captain as it was never happening again after this.

The smile did not go unnoticed to the two-toned eyes of the other man, and he quickly followed Itachi by downing his own sake in one smooth shot.

Itachi couldn't help admiring the taste of the alcohol while Kakashi poured them another round. It was like a smooth gulp of water, and after the fourth drink, the younger man could no longer distinctly taste anything nor could he feel the tip of his nose.

They had been having good conversations and Kakashi probably couldn't believe that an Uchiha had so many emotions. Eventually, they finished the whole bottle, and Itachi was feeling great.

Kakashi raised his hand to call the bartender's attention for another bottle when the beautiful raven-haired man put a hand atop the Kakashi's hand that was sitting on the table. Itachi blushed profusely at the skin contact, and Kakashi forgot all about the second bottle he had been trying to order.

"Do you want me to walk you home?" asked the older captain though he was praying to Kami that that wasn't the case, and he sighed in relief when Itachi shook his head furiously.

"I don' wanna go back to that place now just stay here and talk with me for a while," slurred the young raven.

"Okay... What do you want to talk about?" asked Kakashi who was slightly disappointed that he couldn't move their little party to a more intimate setting like his own apartment.

"Tell me a story," said Itachi as he laid his head on the table and closed his eyes.

"Hmm," hummed the silver-haired man as he stroked his chin in thought. He didn't really have any great stories to tell. In fact, his childhood was actually really depressing. "I've got it!" he said snapping his fingers.

"The tell me," Itachi said chuckling at the older man in his company.

"Okay, well, it was just after I had been promoted to Chunin. Gai had been really upset with the loss and had been badgering me to fight him for weeks!"

* * *

Kakashi sighed in exasperation at just how annoying the Green Beast could be. He had managed to give that annoying green blur the slip and realized that he actually had to pee. _Perfect! A little peace and quiet to relieve myself,_ he thought as he walked leisurely through the came across a small wooden shack that acted as a latrine of sorts for people passing by.

Kakashi made his way into the shack seeing that it actually wasn't half bad for being in the middle of the forest and proceeded to undo his pants and go when a green-clad figure appeared above the small window outside. _Oh, Kami, not again, _thought Kakashi as he tried to quickly finish what he was doing so that he could get away from his new stalker friend.

"Fiiiightt Meeee," said Gai before glancing down and noticing exactly what he had interrupted me doing. Gia's face then became tomato red and be fell out of the tree he had been hanging from.

_Damn. I probably need to go check on him now, _thought Kakashi as he zipped up his pants.

He walked out of the little shack and around the building and saw Gai picking himself off the ground.

"Well, if you're alright, I'm just gonn-"

"No, wait!" Gai exclaimed before rushing over and grabbing ahold of Kakashi's arm. "Does this, uh, look normal to you?"

Kakashi stepped back to look at Gai who proceeded to pull his hideous green jumpsuit away from his body and glanced from inside to Kakashi and back several times as if to hint that he wanted him to come closer and look within as well.

It was against his better judgment, but Gai seemed like he wouldn't let him go otherwise, so he stepped forward and looked into the green abyss.

"It looks like an acorn," said Kakashi as he stepped away from Gai again. The green beast began crying furiously at his words and then insisted that they fight, but this time there were ulterior motives in bandaging his own wounded pride.

* * *

"Oh, God!" said Itachi barely able to keep the corners of his mouth from quirking up.

"Yeah, I know! It really was like looking at an acorn, and tears really did start streaming down his face," Kakashi chuckled at his own misfortune while Itachi was practically rolling with hysterical laughter.

"An acorn?" he asked in disbelief as he wiped at the tears collecting from his mirth.

"An acorn," said Kakashi who was glad to have at least one happy story to share.

"Well, that is certainly an image that I'm not sure whether I'm happy or sad to have," said Itachi as he leaned his elbows on the wooden table.

"Yeah, it's not exactly the greatest, especially if you experienced it first hand, but it's the best I got," he said nonchalantly with a shrug. "Well, that was my story, what about you?"

"Good question. I've never been a very good story teller when I'm put on the spot," said Itachi with a small blush coloring his face.

"Oh, come on! There has to be something," Kakashi said. He wasn't going to let him get out of it that easily.

"Okay, okay," he conceded. "There was this one time that Sasuke and I made a game out of collecting cat prints for our granny. I mean this lady had dozens, hundreds of cats everywhere, and we figured that it was a good idea to collect and count them all in this little notebook. We even wore cat ears and tails to trick them into letting us get close."

"You wore ears and a tail?" asked Kakashi as he fought hard to contain himself. "That is the most beautiful image I have ever seen in my life!"

"Yeah," he chuckled. "But, that will never be happening again so don't even think about asking me."

"Alright, that's fine. I think the image in my head is enough. I'm not sure I'd be able to handle it in real life," said the silver-haired man with a wide grin.

"Fine, but now that I'm sober enough to look, I think it's about time that we head out," Itachi said as he glanced at the clock on the wall across from his seat. As fun as this was, he certainly wasn't up for staying here all night.

Kakashi tried not to pout at the raven, but he supposed that it probably was about time to head home, especially since they had just gotten done with a really long mission. They walked to the door where Kakashi held the curtain aside and allowed Itachi to walk out onto the street first.

"So, I guess this is good night?" he asked, not really sure how to end a relatively good first night out with his young colleague.

"Yeah," smiled Itachi and he gave Kakashi a pat on the shoulder before turning to walk back to the Uchiha District. "Thanks for the company," he threw over his shoulder before he leapt onto the nearest rooftop and out of sight.

Kakashi watched him go being sure that he would be able to make it home alright. It was definitely one of the stranger things to happen to him, and Kakashi wondered if anymore surprises would be coming from the young Uchiha anytime soon.

_Something's definitely off about that kid, _he thought as he started on his own way home, he just wasn't exactly sure what that something was.

* * *

Itachi landed on the streets of the Uchiha District opting to walk his way through the streets that he had grown up in.

_That wasn't a bad night, _he thought as he meandered around buildings and side alleys to get back to his house and his wonderful bed.

He was about to walk into one of the busier streets in the district when voices caught his attention causing him to back against the walls of the alley so that he could observe without being seen.

There were three Konoha police officers confronting two men outside of one of the bars within the district. Upon closer inspection, the men weren't acting belligerent, and they weren't Uchiha either.

_Hmm, _thought Itachi as he leaned closer to hear what they were saying.

"You men don't belong here, you should just go on home and forget this night ever happened," said one of the Uchiha officers.

"You Uchiha have no right to think you're better than everyone else in the village. The first war ended years ago," said one of the men rather angrily as he glanced at all of the people around him who were also Uchiha.

Murmurs and chatter erupted around the man who had just isolated himself and his friend in the middle of a district that was home to people he was trying to offend and rile up.

"We said get out of here," said another of the officers who was trying to get the crowd to calm down and disperse with little effect.

"We can be anywhere we want in the village!" shouted one of the men who proceeded to throw one of the bar's wooden chair in the direction of the officers. It broke into splintered pieces at their feet before the proceeded to attack and handcuff the men who were definitely under arrest.

There was a lot of grunting and grumbling, but Itachi had already taken to the roofs to continue on his way home. _That was very interesting, _he thought as he landed on the window ledge of his room and climbed inside. _Very interesting._

* * *

**Just a little chapter. I hope it felt awkward to you because it was certainly awkward for me to write! Kakashi and Itachi... hmm.  
Until next time,**

**IPG**


	4. Chapter 3

**Hello! Here's another chapter involving characters that aren't mine! I wish someone would tell me what they think about this story... I feel like I'm talking to myself here... Anyway, enjoy!**

**IPG**

* * *

Chapter 3

Itachi was lucky enough to have a while at home in Konoha before he was sent out on another extended mission. He felt strange without Team Ro by his side, but he had done plenty of training with his new team to make him comfortable enough to be able to lead them all properly. This particular mission was a recon mission to Kumo to trade scrolls with valuable information in them and to restore some amount of the amicable relationship that Konoha had had with Kumo before the Second Great Ninja War.

The young Uchiha wasn't much of a fan of the political aspect of ninja work, but a mission was a mission and he wasn't one to fail at his job if he could help it.

The team had hit the border of the Land of Lightning early in the morning so that they would have an easier time passing through with as little trouble as possible. They were to meet the Kumo team at a small village just inside of the border and wanted to get there to scout out as much of this uncharted land as possible. Itachi was really just hoping that they could get in and out of the country without anything bad happening.

When dawn broke on the horizon, a group of Kumo shinobi appeared in the streets of the small village that they had intended to explore.

_So much for scoping out the area,_ thought Itachi and he and one of his teammates walked up to trade with two of the members of the Kumo squad.

"Was your trip very difficult?" asked the captain of the squad as he took the scroll from Itachi and handed over his own.

"Extended missions are all relatively similar, as I'm sure you know," said Itachi, being sure to let the group in front of him make their own assumptions about his team and their journey. One could never be too careful with information.

The captain of the other team nodded in understanding of the types of missions Itachi had been referring to and backed up to align with his other teammates again. Then several other Kumo shinobi appeared on the rooftops above the two teams, each of them bearing weapons and ready for a fight.

"I hope you don't mind, but Kumo really isn't interested in forging new friendships with Konoha just yet," said the captain as the scroll in Itachi's hand was immediately dropped as the exploding tag attached to it went off in a fiery bang.

With the smoke covering their movements, each of the shinobi on Itachi's team had taken the chance to arm themselves and started to pick off as many of the Kumo enemy they could from their positions on the roofs.

When the smoke had cleared, Itachi took the chance to glare at the captain that had betrayed them moments before though the effect was voided due to the animal mask.

"When we found out that a sharingan was walking into our midst willingly, we couldn't allow such a precious kekei genkai just leave. Our plans were changed and now you aren't going anywhere Uchiha-san," said the captain as he ran at the Konoha team and all of the other Kumo shinobi followed his lead.

Itachi chuckled darkly to himself. Ruining a peaceful gathering because of a kekei genkai was stupid, and they were all fools for thinking that they could get his eyes so easily. He was an Uchiha prodigy after all.

When their katana met in a clang of pure ringing metal, Itachi turned on his sharingan to truly assess his team's situation. They were certainly outnumbered at least five to one, but these ninja weren't nearly as skilled as his own, and soon enough, the Kumo forces started piling up in droves.

"It's a pity that you decided to ruin this meeting over my eyes," said Itachi as the other captain's sword barely grazed his left arm. He parried the man with a quick slice across his left thigh that caused the other to falter in his steps. "You clearly didn't know who exactly you were dealing with here."

"It shouldn't matter who you are," said the man as he regained his composure to stab aimlessly at Itachi only to have the raven take advantage of the opening and slice a nice chunk out of the man's side. It was at that moment that the other captain realized that his forces were being annihilated by the Konoha team and that he had overestimated his odds greatly. "W-who are you?"

"I am _Itachi _Uchiha, your worst nightmare," he said with a sneer to the man who seemed to be debating his own chances if he were to beg for his life. The raven watched another Kumo shinobi fall from the corner of his eye and decided that he had had enough of all of this.

"I'm feeling quite merciful today," he said as he flicked the katana out of the Kumo captain's hand so that it landed in the wall of one of the buildings. "If you surrender now, no more harm will come to you and your team and you will be allowed to collect your fallen and get help to those that need it, but you do not come back here and you do not send anyone after me and my team. Understand?"

The other captain was cowering at the menace radiating from Itachi's body. Itachi reached into the other captain's uniform and pulled out the Konoha scroll that he had traded earlier before sending another suffocating wave of killing intent in the man's direction to be sure that his point had been made. The other captain nodded meekly, unable to move, before calling off his men so that they could begin collecting their dead.

Itachi called off his own team who were actually pretty well off considering their odds at the start of their battle. When all of the shinobi had been collected by the Kumo that could still function properly, each team turned to go their separate ways in a truce, that was until the distinct ring of a Kunai came flying through the air only to be caught between two fingers right next to Itachi's head.

Itachi whipped around to see the culprit and when their eyes met, it was all over. The man crumpled to the ground with several of the ninja around him jumping back comically as if he had caught a plague. Itachi saw the Kumo captain palm his face at the stupidity of the men he happened to be in charge of before waving a sorry in Itachi's direction and then running off in the direction of Kumogakure followed by his depleted forces.

"Well, that was interesting," said one of the older members of his team, and he nodded in assent.

"We should leave," he said as he turned the scroll in his hand before tucking it into his own ANBU uniform and dashing off towards the border and the safety of the trees.

* * *

The report Itachi had for the Hokage was not what he had wanted to give, but Kumo had made their choice and their relationship had to remain the way it was.

Itachi was actually relieved to be back in Konoha and hoped that his missions would keep him closer to home for a while. He decided that it was best to head to the Uchiha District before doing anything else, and despite how much he loathed it, he had promised to check in with his father after every mission. _Unlucky for me that I almost failed this past mission, _he thought as he jumped from one of the rooftops to land gracefully in the street in front of the police headquarters.

"Hey, Itachi, I wasn't expecting to see you so soon," said one of the officers that was discussing something off to the side with his colleagues.

"Yes, well, missions certainly are unpredictable," he said curtly before walking through the glass doors of the building to find his father.

He had been trying to remember exactly when he had seen that man last when he practically ran straight into Fugaku's broad chest and only the man clearing his throat had saved him from doing so.

"Ah, Father, just who I was looking for," said Itachi as he straightened in Fugaku's presence. _He was still as imposing as ever._

"Come to my office quickly and talk. I have a lot on my plate right now," the man growled before walking past his son to take care of something that Itachi didn't care about.

He glanced at his father's fleeting form and headed through the maze of cubicles, down the hall and through the door labeled Fugaku Uchiha.

Itachi figured that his father wouldn't be joining him for at least ten minutes, so he took the opportunity to glance around the small room for any changes that might have occurred since his last visit.

There was still a rather large fern in the corner by the filing cabinet that was always locked. Itachi had tried to open it once, but there had been far too many security measures to bypass in the short amount of time that he had to work, so he had simply left it alone until he would need to get in there for something. The desk was mahogany and very well organized, but there were still some papers that Itachi could glance at for some light reading that sat next to a photo of his family when they were all much younger people. The photo didn't interest him; however, and he moved the small frame to look at the file it had been sitting on.

Itachi turned the manila folder around in his hand and looked at the label once more. _Uchiha, _and someone had scribbled over the first name. _Who could this be, _he thought as he let the folder flip open and a photo of him and Shisui sat at the top. _What is this?_

The muffled voices of his father talking to someone just outside of the door startled him from his snooping, and Itachi quickly replaced the file under his family photo as he had found it before taking a seat at the desk to wait for Fugaku to open the door.

The man eventually made it and seemed distracted when he sat down to face his son.

"Why are you here?" he asked grumpily as he shuffled around some of his papers and partially covered the mysterious file.

"You asked me to come to you after every mission," Itachi said tersely trying not to let the rising tension show in his words.

"Right, well, brief me later. I have things that need to be taken care of, and you can wait," said Fugaku as he dismissed his eldest with a wave of his hand.

Angered and offended, Itachi rose from his seat and headed towards the door. He had no need to stay now, and letting off some steam seemed like an excellent idea. He turned to look at his father one last time and noticed that he had ahold of the file before he closed the door, barring himself from information that he was actually curious about.

Cursing under his breath, he walked through the cubicles not paying attention to anything that was being said around him, before exiting the building and taking to the roofs. He had one focus in the millions of things that were flying around his mind. _Where's Shisui, find Shisui. Find him!_

Itachi's sharingan eyes spun wildly as he searched through the streets and their usual places. _Not at the teahouse. Not at his house. Not at my house. Not training. Where is he?_

It then dawned on Itachi where exactly Shisui was, and he quickly took to the forest in attempt to reach him before he left.

Itachi made the journey through the forest and landed on the moist earth next to the waterfall. Shisui was there meditating and was barely phased by Itachi's arrival as he had sensed him coming.

"To what do I owe the pleasure," said Shisui as he continued his zen. He then felt his friend's irritation and turned to glance at the dark clad figure behind him.

"Shisui," said Itachi in greeting trying to calm his heart rate and breathing.

"Yes, Itachi, what is it? You seem troubled," said Shisui as he adjusted his positioning and gestured for his friend to join him on the ground.

Itachi gladly sat despite the wet ground making his clothes wet as he did so. He had spent enough time in this place to have grown use to it already.

"So, what is it that you wanted to speak about?" Shisui asked once Itachi was situated comfortably.

"Well, actually, I just finished speaking with my father, and I came across something interesting that I thought I should share."

"Snooping in the police headquarters again? What have you found this time?" asked Shisui as Itachi seemed unable to help himself when it came to snooping in his father's office.

"Well, I was looking over the desk when a folder caught me attention. It was sitting underneath the frame with my family photo in it and the name on it was crossed out," said Itachi as a frown started to form on his brow.

"Hmm, that is interesting," said Shisui as he tapped his chin with his own pondering expression on his face.

"That isn't even the most interesting part about it," continued Itachi as he turned his attention back to his friend. "I opened the file for a moment and the first thing that I saw was a photo of you and me in the Academy days. I wa-."

"A photo of us? Why would our photo be in an unlabeled folder on the Police Chief's desk?" asked Shisui with his own puzzled frown.

"Well, I was unable to look any farther as my father almost walked in on me, but it was enough for me to want the rest of the information there." said Itachi and Shisui echoed his assent.

They decided that they would break into the office the next night to search the file and possibly see if there were any other secrets being hidden in that file cabinet that he had never been able to get into. They could leave tonight as a chance for Itachi to catch up with his family and get some rest.

* * *

Despite his recent mission, there were games afoot and and Itachi hadn't been able to sleep. Thankfully, one of his teammates had asked him to teach him some of his taijutsu moves, so he was able to distract himself and time passed without much notice.

When the sun had finally started to set, he sighed in relief and made his way home for dinner and to prepare for their infiltration mission later that night. When he had arrived at the mansion the night before, his father hadn't said a word to him, and Itachi was just as happy to forget about talking with his father as Fugaku seemed to be, but that was unlike the Uchiha patriarch who prided over Itachi his entire life. This forgetfulness was certainly unusual.

Of course, Itachi just assumed that all of his father's distractions could be linked to the file he had seen earlier, but that only made Itachi wish to see it even more.

As Itachi neared the kitchen, he could hear his mother and Sasuke talking about his day. He had gone to help their aunt and uncle run the flower shop next door and had brought her home a bouquet. Sasuke was adorable.

He knocked on the door frame before stepping out of the hall and into the lightness of the kitchen.

"Nii-san!" exclaimed the youngest Uchiha from his seat at the table, papers from the Academy strewn about him.

"Evening, Itachi Dear," Mikoto singsonged as she placed her flowers in a vase and turned to face her eldest son. "How was your day?"

"It was productive," said Itachi as he pecked his mother on the cheek and took his place at the table across from Sasuke.

"Well, that's wonderful to hear," she said as she moved her vase from beside the sink to the windowsill and went to join her boys. "Sasuke was just telling me about his day at the flower shop. Right, Sasuke?"

"Yeah, but now I'm doing my homework because Mother said so," he pouted and Itachi couldn't help smiling at his darling little face.

"Homework is important, Sasuke," he chuckled. "Even I had to do it in my Academy days."

"You're right!" he gasped before furiously scribbling in answers to the questions on the paper.

_Of course, he would take to his homework like that, he wanted to be like me after all, _thought Itachi as he shook his head in contempt of Sasuke's brother worship. _When would he ever learn?_

"Hmm, maybe I should get you to do that more often," teased Mikoto, and Itachi rolled his eyes at her. She moved to get up just as the timer to their meal went off, and Itachi had to wonder if there was even a need for a timer since his mother seemed to know without one.

She quickly pulled the pork out of the oven and set it on the stove. It smelled wonderful, and both Itachi and Sasuke paused in their work to inhale deeply.

"Well, that's done. I wonder when your father will be home," she mumbled as she pulled bits off to taste her creation.

As if she had summoned him, Fugaku appeared in the door to the hall with the same agitated aura Itachi could feel when he had visited him at the office.

"Uchiha," he said as he walked into the kitchen and pecked his wife on the lips. He sat at the head of the table as Sasuke quickly cleared away all of his papers so that Mikoto could set the table.

As per usual, their meal was carried out in relative silence as Fugaku's mood suffocated all of the once happy kitchen atmosphere, and Itachi couldn't help but refocus all of his energies into making the time pass more quickly so that he could meet up with Shisui to begin their night.

* * *

When they were finally excused, Itachi did everything in his power to prevent him from sprinting up the stairs to gather his gear and dash into the night. He decided that it was best to give himself at least an hour at home before going to the waterfall to meet with his friend. Sometimes, Itachi was quite envious of Shisui's lack of parentage to keep tabs on him, but he was startled out of his thoughts by a soft knock at his door.

"Yes," he said as the door slid to the side to reveal Sasuke as his visitor. _Who else would it be?_

"Aniki, can I stay in here with you for a while?" asked Sasuke timidly from the door.

"Sure, come in and close the door," he said before the spiky-haired raven bounded into his room to sit on his bed.

"What are you doing?" he asked as he peered over Itachi's shoulder to watch him tie some kunai on a ninja wire.

"I'm preparing my equipment for training and missions," said Itachi as he began wrapping the wire into a manageable coil to pack away and use later.

"Oh, we haven't learned anything like that in the Academy," said Sasuke as he leaned back against the wall.

"Well, I learned most of these skill in training with my teams. I'm sure you'll cover a little bit of it sometime soon," he said throwing a rare smile in Sasuke's direction.

"Or you could teach me," said the youngest Uchiha hoping that for once Itachi might train him.

"Hmm, well, I suppose this is something you could learn from me," _that won't maim or kill you._ So, Itachi cut off a piece of ninja wire for Sasuke and one for himself to demonstrate with.

Brimming with excitement, Sasuke quickly wriggled off the bed and onto the floor to take the piece of wire from his brother before he changed his mind. Itachi couldn't help but pat the spiky head before directing his attention to his mini-lesson.

"Well, I suppose for tonight we'll start by teaching you one of the basic knots that almost every shinobi uses when setting traps. I'll show you how to make one and then you try, okay?"

"Alright," said Sasuke as he watched his brother intently. Itachi made the easiest knot he knew and when he had finished Sasuke had already begun, but was failing miserably in his task.

"Did you even watch me?" asked Itachi as he poked Sasuke in the head to get his attention. He began pulling the mess of wire off of Sasuke's hands for him to start again. "Here, I'll show you once more time, but that's it. Then it's time for bed."

"Okay," he said with a pout before putting all of his energy into focusing on Itachi's knot tying skills. Sasuke stood up once Itachi had finished and moved toward the door with his wire in hand. "Do I really have to go?"

"Yes, Sasuke. Even great ninja need their sleep" said Itachi before shooing Sasuke out the door. He watched him trudge down the hall and into his own room before both of their doors slid shut and Itachi gathered the rest of his supplies. He slid out of his window after turning off the bedroom light and allowed himself the chance to check on Sasuke before slipping into the night to meet with his friend.

There were things that needed to be done, and Itachi had been waiting all day to do them.

* * *

**So completely off the topic of this story, is anyone else feeling that adulthood should come with a warning label that says 'What are you doing?! This isn't fun!' and they can turn it into stickers to give to children at fairs and doctors' appointments and stuff. Well, anyway, I hope you liked this and that someone might tell me something, anything! please... Or not is cool too.**

**IPG**


	5. Chapter 4

**Well, it's late-ish, but here's another chapter. Thank you all who faved and followed. That was so sweet of you and now I don't feel like I'm doing so bad! Wins for all! Anyway, *Standard Disclaimer About Naruto Goes Here* and enjoy!**

**IPG**

* * *

Chapter 4

As he ran through the forest, Itachi couldn't help but wonder what they might find in the file beneath the picture. It had been a long time since he had seen that particular photo of himself, but why had it been sitting in an unmarked file in the Police Chief's office? It just didn't make sense.

He landed silently by the waterfall next to the other black-clad figure in the clearing, and without a word they quickly headed back toward the village to carry out their mission.

Itachi followed Shisui through the shadows of the night. The looming buildings were nothing compared to the nightmares the pair had seen in their line of work, so it had become easy enough for the two of them to slink around in the sleeping village and make it to the entrance of the police headquarters.

Itachi used his ninja lockpicking skills to quickly open the doors and let them in so that they could begin their search for the file and the contents that it held.

They walked towards the Chief's office, having been there many times before and found it easy enough to get into. Itachi knew that the hardest part would be getting into the filing cabinet for even more information, but first he took to the desk to see if their file was still there.

Sure enough, Fugaku had stuck it between two other files as to keep it safe from any prying eyes that might come into the office before he arrived in the morning. Shisui picked it up first so that he could see that a name had definitely been crossed off and then flipped it open to examine its contents.

The photo of them fluttered to the floor, and Itachi bent to pick it up. He flipped it around in his hand to see if anything was on the back before Shisui plucked it from his hands and handed him a document in return.

**Konoha Police Department: Official Records  
This document, signed and sealed by Police Chief, Fugaku Uchiha, and witnessed by Sergeant Ichiro Uchiha, is proof that all contents within this record are of crucial importance to the investigation revolving around one Itachi Uchiha and his involvement with the Village of Konoha.**

He looked at Shisui who was watching him intently but only bewilderment was written on Itachi's face.

_What could they be investigating him for? He had done nothing wrong and yet they were questioning his involvement with Konoha. Why? _Itachi pondered as questions kept flitting through his mind, and he took the file from Shisui so that he could go through its contents more thoroughly.

Shisui moved across the room to start his work on the filing cabinet while Itachi continued reading.

There were records from all of Itachi's fourteen years of life, the Academy, the doctors, every gift he had ever gotten, all meticulously recorded and collected to be stored within the police headquarters and only accessible by one Fugaku Uchiha.

Itachi heard the distinct metal grind of the filing cabinet and his heart nearly jumped from his chest. Shisui had managed to open it and had been quickly flitting through the documents inside in search of anything that piqued his interest.

He stood with a few different folders in his hand to join Itachi, choosing to leave the drawers open so that they wouldn't have to suffer through the sound too many times.

Knowing that there wasn't much more that he could learn from his own file that he didn't already know about himself, he replaced all the contents and slid it back into its place between the folders on his father's desk. He then picked up one of the folders that Shisui had grabbed and flipped it to read the label.

_Uchiha, Sasuke_

He flipped it open quickly; however, no signed or sealed document fell out. There were records about the boy within, but it all seemed relatively normal to him, so he closed it and set it down on the desk to pick up another.

_Uchiha, Mikoto_ was written on the next file, but that also had nothing of interest to him besides his new uncertainty of his father's moral compass. He went to grab another when Shisui nudged him to draw his attention to the folder he held in his hands.

Itachi pulled up the corner to read _Uchiha, Shisui _written across the label before his friend handed him another document to read.

**Konoha Police Department: Official Record  
Shisui Uchiha has been cleared in the investigation. All can proceed with contact freely.**

_What? _wondered Itachi as he handed the paper back to Shisui to replace in the file. Shisui shrugged in his own bewilderment and moved to put all of the folders back in the filing cabinet where they belonged. The pair had seen enough, and it was time for them to get out of there and discuss their finds.

Unfortunately, that wasn't going to be as simple as they would have hoped as they heard something hit the floor in the land of cubicles down the hall. Panicking, both teens quickly put things back into their places as fast they could possibly move. This was the worst possible situation they could have ended up in and each wondered who could possibly be in the police headquarters so late at night and still have honorable intentions in being there.

Knowing that every window in the building was barred, Itachi and Shisui were trapped like rats, their only exit was going out the way they had come in. They were going to have to take care of whomever this person was if they were going to make it out alright in the end. Seeing that Shisui happened to have a distinct advantage with the flicker technique, he quickly moved into the hallway to map out the situation before making his move and quickly putting the unsuspecting figure under a genjutsu that he never saw coming.

The figure was dressed in all black with a mask covering his face like the ones they were wearing.

"Who do you think it is?" asked Shisui in the softest whisper he could manage.

Without a word, Itachi quickly grabbed the fabric and pulled it over the man's head. Shocked, both boys had to steady themselves as Fugaku Uchiha stood before them in a trance induced by Shisui's genjutsu.

_What the hell was going on?_

Quicker than Shisui could process, Itachi put the mask back on his father's head before moving to leave. His body felt shocked and disconnected and he wanted more than anything to remove himself from that place as quickly as he could manage. Shisui followed him, understanding a little of what his friend was feeling, and as soon as they were a good distance away, he released his hold over the clan head so that he could go about his infiltration with only a slight sense of deja vu.

* * *

When they were safely within the cover of the forest, Itachi removed his mask so that he could breathe in the fresh night air. He needed to clear his head, but as long as he knew that such a file existed and that his father had come into the office clearly out to do dishonorable things, he would never be able to do so. Shisui also uncovered his face, but only when they had landed on the surface of the river and were making their way toward the base of the waterfall. They would not be speaking until they were safely within the hidden cave that lay beyond.

As soon as they were beyond the open air and falling water, Itachi let himself fall to the rocky ground exhausted. That was far more information than he had ever hoped to gain in their infiltration, and he wasn't sure how he felt about it at all.

"Itachi," Shisui said as he sat with more grace on a boulder near the wall. "What the hell just happened?"

"Honestly," he said with an exasperated sigh, "You're guess is as good as mine. Have you been feeling like you've been being watched?"

"Not at all. I have no idea how those forms came out cleared as I know I at least have enough tracking and sensing skills to pick up on tails like that, and why am I cleared already? What about you?"

Itachi had wondered the exact same thing as soon as he had seen the document that had stated such. Wouldn't he have been one of the first to be cleared as he was the Police Chief/Clan Head's son?

"My questions lay more in the realm of why Father was at the office dressed as we are now? Plus, he should have easily been able to deflect any sort of genjutsu either of us tried to put him under. That was just strange," he said rubbing his palms into his eyes.

"Yeah, strange," Shisui echoed as he leaned forward resting his elbows on his knees. Distinctly more aware of their state of being than Itachi was, Shisui could sense just how tired and distraught Itachi was and decided that they had had enough for the night. "We should probably get home."

That was the last place Itachi had wanted to go, but he complied with Shisui knowing that things were always easier to manage after a good nights rest. The only problem was his ability to fall asleep, which he knew he didn't have with everything crammed into his brain like sardines packed into a can. They bid farewell anyway and as Itachi neared his home he knew he simply wouldn't have been able to handle being there, so he changed his course to head into greater Konoha in search of one silver-haired ANBU Captain.

* * *

Itachi had to admit that he now enjoyed meeting Kakashi at the bar. They had continued meeting at them on occasion, and Itachi couldn't help but enjoy hearing the stories from Kakashi about being a seasoned ANBU captain and all the ridiculous things the man had experienced in his life. Tonight was a very different kind of night, though as Itachi wanted nothing more than to forget everything he had just experienced for as long as he possibly could.

"How was your most recent mission?" Kakashi asked after they had knocked back the last of their bottle and he had motioned for another.

"The mission was 87% unsuccessful and 100% people are idiots. You know, it was ruined because the Kumo nin got wind that there was an Uchiha on the team. They wanted the Sharingan so badly that they botched all of the peace agreements and everything just to get them. Thankfully, my team and I are more than capable of handling ourselves or that would have been a far worse outcome," he grumbled as the bartender set their new bottle of sake on the table.

"I'm surprised that every nation doesn't already know that you shouldn't attempt to take a sharingan from an Uchiha. Huh, learn something new everyday," he stated only half teasing the young man in his company.

"Yes, well they certainly learned that lesson hard. We had maimed or killed at least half of their rants and we were outnumbered five to one before it had even started."

"So what else is new?" asked Kakashi pouring them another drink. "We haven't done this in quite some time. Hell, you've had a birthday, I've had a birthday, the Summer has gone by without me seeing you once."

"Well, two of those months were a mission," he said realizing that it actually had been a long time since they had gotten together. "But, I'm not making excuses, and I'm here now."

"You're right, you are. It's nice to see you," Kakashi said toasting to that and downing another smooth gulp of the sake. He watched Itachi smirk at him and then mirror his actions, downing his own shot in one go. Itachi was becoming a pro sake drinker by the glass, and Kakashi couldn't help but chuckle at what a bad influence he was on others.

* * *

As they finished their second bottle, both men were feeling really good, though Itachi still couldn't handle his alcohol as well as Kakashi could.

"Perhaps it's time to leave," said the silver-haired man as he watched Itachi sway in his seat.

"Oh, but I don't want to leave just yet. The night's only just started," pouted Itachi as he never could hold onto his Uchiha mask after a certain amount of alcohol had hit his system.

"Come on, we shouldn't close down the bar," he said. _Think of how bad that would look on your infamous Uchiha reputation._

"I just don't wanna go home, yet," said Itachi as he scowled at the air making Kakashi save that bit of information for exploration later.

"Then I'll walk you back to my house," said the silver-haired man knowing that they shouldn't be out and about much later than it was anyway.

They walked, well in Itachi's case, stumbled their way onto the streets that were very dark as there was no moon in the sky to light them.

"So, uh, what do you wanna do when we get there?" asked Kakashi with an evil glint in his eye.

Itachi ignored it as the full effects of his drunkenness hadn't fully kicked in yet, and he could still think with some form of rationality. But within moments, as if he simply flipped a switch, the alcohol took full effect, and he fully lost his balance and was about to fall when a hand shot out and grabbed his arm and yanked him in the other direction so that his face was buried in the muscular chest of Kakashi Hatake.

Embarrassed, Itachi could feel Kakashi's protective arms wrapped around his thin frame holding him in place until his world stopped spinning.

"Well, I certainly can't leave you in the street in this condition," Kakashi chuckled.

"Whatever gets you to sleep at night," Itachi laughed before looking up at the taller man and blushing again at the tender smile on the older man's face. Then Kakashi leaned down and kissed the young sharingan user. The beautiful raven gasped momentarily before leaning into his first kiss with new found enthusiasm. Kakashi took that as his cue to break the kiss and sweep the young man up so that they could make it to his house without acting like drunken fools, killing all the precious darkness of the night.

As they ran over the city, Itachi couldn't help but love the feeling of the cool night air rushing past his face or the warmth of the strong arms around him. Somewhere in his muddled thoughts, Itachi wondered why he always seemed to get into situations that required Kakashi to take care of him, but they were soon lost in the whirring of the wind flying through his raven hair.

* * *

They landed on Kakashi's doorstep, which he rarely ever used, and Itachi found himself being placed upright while Kakashi fished for his keys and swiftly unlocked the door, gesturing for him to enter. He managed to stumble into the entry where he tried to remove his shoes but failed miserably in his drunken state and ended up, instead, falling flat on his backside.

Kakashi was to his side in a moment checking for any damage, but the raven just laughed at himself knowing that he must really be a hot mess.

The older man picked up Itachi's right leg and let it rest on his knee while he worked on removing the ninja sandals. After the sandals were removed, Kakashi placed the younger captain's arms around his neck so that they could stand and walk into the kitchen. Of course this brought their faces dangerously close to each other again, but Itachi didn't notice until Kakashi put a quick kiss on the end of his nose.

The young raven couldn't help but blush at the display of affection and noticed how good the contact felt despite his drunken numbness. He found himself being set in a chair while Kakashi grabbed a glass and started filling it with water.

"I'm gonna have you drink this before I put you to bed," said the older man. "It'll make you feel loads better by the time you wake up tomorrow."

Itachi smiled at his kindness before taking the glass and drinking. As the cool liquid hit the back of his throat, Itachi couldn't even fathom how he could be even remotely thirsty after having finished a bottle of sake, at least, but he didn't question it any further as he swallowed greedily.

"Done," said the Uchiha as he handed the empty glass back to its owner.

"Good! Now lets get you to bed," said Itachi's temporary caretaker and the raven was slowly hoisted into standing. They stumbled down the hall and into a really plain looking room with a queen sized bed against the far wall and a nightstand and dresser to make up the only other furniture in the room.

"What do you normally sleep in?" asked Kakashi as he lay the drunken raven on the bed.

"Boxers," mumbled Itachi who seemed exhausted until he shot bolt upright causing the two men to almost knock heads, and Itachi to sway with the sudden blood rush.

"I have to pee," said Itachi who was now struggling to squirm off the bed.

"Do you need me to help you get there?" asked Kakashi who seemed a little skeptical about the younger man's ability to walk in his current state.

"I'll be just fine, Ka-shi-sem-pai," said Itachi with a hint of mirth in his voice as he emphasized each of the syllables. "Just point me in the right direction."

"It's out the door and to the left," said the ANBU captain as he laid down on his bed waiting for the younger teen to stumble back into the room.

* * *

When he heard the footsteps nearing the bedroom door, Kakashi found himself faced with a completely naked Uchiha. The lithe and beautiful body was everything the silver-haired man had fantasized about and more. It took everything he had not to jump up and start ravishing the pale form in front of him.

Quicker than he thought was possible for someone in such a state of intoxication, the weight of Itachi was on him and fumbling in attempt at pulling off his clothes.

As much as Kakashi wanted it, he had to stop the nimble hands from working off his shirt. "Are you sure you want to do this Itachi? You are drunk, and I don't want you to regret any of this when you wake up tomorrow."

"Of course I want to give my virginity to you Kakashi. I couldn't think of anyone more worthy than my old captain and someone who has cared for me for so long without even the slightest reward. I think it's about time you get your due, don't you?" Itachi then managed to slip the shirt and mask over Kakashi's head before planting one passionate kiss on Kakashi's waiting mouth.

Of course that was reason enough for the older man, but there was no way he was going to do anything sexual with Itachi until he was sober. How could he live with himself if Itachi didn't remember that night, which was entirely possible as his intoxication levels stood. No, they would not be doing anything like that until Kakashi felt their circumstances were appropriate.

"Hold on," said the silver-haired man as he untangled himself from the extraordinarily strong grasp of Itachi.

"Where are you going?" asked Itachi while grasping out for some piece of Kakashi's body and then pouting when he came up empty handed.

"I'm going to get you some pain meds before we start so that you won't feel like Hell when you wake up in the morning," said Kakashi before ducking out of the room and rushing to the bathroom for two small pills and then to the kitchen for a small glass of water. He dashed back into his bedroom where Itachi was impatiently waiting for him and he handed the glass and the pills to the raven. Itachi looked at them skeptically and rolled them around in his hand before glancing at Kakashi.

"These will take the pain away?" asked the raven who was questioning how such small objects could handle what was about to transpire this evening.

"Yep, you'll be glad you took them in the morning," Kakashi urged. "I wish someone had been kind enough to give me that little piece of advice before my first time. It'll be much more enjoyable for you," he said with an eyebrow waggle in Itachi's direction to hopefully drive home the point.

With a shrug, Itachi popped the pills and downed the water before setting the glass on the side table and pouncing on Kakashi like an agile cat.

Kakashi moved so that Itachi's head was resting on a pillow before moving away from his mouth and down his throat to the hollow of his neck.

Itachi couldn't get over how good this kind of affection felt to him, having only ever experienced parental affection and friendship before.

It was after Kakashi had moved up his throat to his jaw that Itachi suddenly felt the heaviness set into his system to the point that he couldn't have moved even if the apartment were on fire.

"What did you do?" mumbled the raven as he realized that he shouldn't be feeling this tired while being so aroused.

"It's okay, just relax," said Kakashi as the full effects of the extra strength sleep aids were finally kicking in. He watched as Itachi's eyelids drooped to half mast and then closed completely before a small snore filled the air between them.

Kakashi looked over Itachi's sleeping face before rolling over to lay out next to him. He glanced at the raven, scanning his naked form, before staring up at the ceiling in the dark.

"Well, fuck," he said knowing that an opportunity like that might never come his way again, but also knowing that he had done the right thing. Kakashi glanced down his own form noticing his own very prominent and aroused problem. _Why does he have to do this to me?_ he wondered as he quickly walked to the bathroom to take care of things.

"Guess it's just you and me for tonight, Chuck," he said looking at his hand. Otherwise, he would have never allowed Itachi to sleep through the night.

* * *

**No lemons. Sorry. It's too soon. But I hope you liked it! Hope everyone's weekends are going good. Clearly, mine is totally exciting! Anyway, have a good night and thanks for reading!**

**IPG**


	6. Chapter 5

**I got my first ever review! Yay! Anyway, thanks everyone else who's reading. It's sweet and I appreciate it!**

**IPG**

* * *

Chapter 5

The rising morning sun woke Itachi from a restless night of sleep. He had assumed that Kakashi had drugged him into sleeping, which he would be thanking the man for later, but he couldn't turn off his dreams which had been filled with the events of the night before and all the things that still needed to be examined. He could honestly say that he was truly dreading having to work the entire thing out so that it landed in his favor, but he needed to spar with something or he was going to explode.

Itachi turned his head to look at the sleeping man laying in bed with him. Kakashi was fully clothed and as he glanced down at himself, he realized that Kakashi had managed to dress him as well. _Great, another thing to add to my list of embarrassing moments done in the presence of Kakashi Hatake, _he thought to himself as he rubbed his hands over his face to wipe the sleep from his eyes. He stilled as he felt Kakashi rustle around next to him and peeked at him to be sure that he hadn't woken up. Luckily, the coast was clear, and Itachi made his way swiftly from the room to find something to write on.

After he feverishly scratching out a note for his most gracious of hosts, he put on his sandals and moved out of the apartment and into the slowly waking city. Little did he know, Kakashi had been awake and watching the younger man as he moved about before he left.

The silver-haired man stretched out on his bed before heaving an indignant sigh. His frustration was quelled when he got up and moved into the kitchen to find the note and see what it said.

**Good Morning Kakashi,  
I'm sorry that I left without telling you, but there are some things that I need to take care of today, and I figured the earlier I got around to them, the better. Anyway, please accept my apology and my thanks for putting me to bed when I actually desperately needed it. I certainly know that wasn't easy and your reward will come soon enough, just give me time to work things out first.  
Yours, Itachi**

Kakashi krinkled the paper and threw it away. His own sharingan had it memorized anyway, so there was no need to keep any sort of incriminating evidence of their relationship for others to find. He wondered mildly what Itachi needed to do that was so important, but he easily brushed it off as something that the raven would tell him when the time was right. He wasn't going to force it out of him, anyway, so he decided to go about his day as he would normally. _Perhaps, I'll give Pakkun a visit,_ he mused as he jumped through his kitchen window. Where he was going, he wasn't sure, yet, but without Itachi, his apartment wasn't someplace he wanted to stay.

* * *

Itachi had decided that waking Shisui to train with him was his best chance to get his frustration out and theorize on the events the two had experienced in the police headquarters on their self-appointed mission. It was easy enough to get into Shisui's house since they were distant cousins and both lived in the Uchiha District, but Itachi was also weary of any possible additional traps on the bedroom window just in case. It was an unnecessary thought, though, because Shisui was very much awake and waiting for him to arrive.

"Would you like to spar?" asked Itachi as he landed on the floor of his friends room. Shisui nodded and both men left to head for their favorite training ground in the forest.

"Where were you this morning?" Shisui asked when they landed in the grassy clearing. "I had gone to your window, but you weren't there."

"I needed to clear my head and ended up running into Kakashi. I didn't exactly want to go back to the mansion anyway, so Kakashi offered that I stay with him. The distance was actually much needed," he said neglecting to fill Shisui in on the drunken, hormone-fueled activities. Shisui did not need to know that just yet.

Of course, Shisui knew that Itachi was taking their situation much harder than he was, so he let things slide with a shrug before moving into his own fighting stance. "Ready?" he asked as Itachi adjusted his own stance to match. He watched Itachi nod ever so slightly before both boys jumped at each other in an intense round of taijutsu.

"Have you heard anything from anyone this morning?" Itachi inquired as he punched, kicked, and blocked at nearly invisible speeds.

Shisui, of course, had no problems keeping up with such speeds and continued parrying as he thought about his morning around the compound. "I haven't heard much. The police don't know that anyone has been in the office since they closed up last night, and your house seemed relatively quiet when I went over there. I haven't really spent much time wandering around this morning though."

"Hmm," Itachi hummed as he jumped away from a kick aimed at his stomach before jumping at Shisui landing a punch on his friends jaw before he came back with a set of quick jabs to his ribs. Shisui Kicked again and his leg was caught in Itachi's grasp before he was flipped in mid air giving him the advantage of being able to kick back nailing Itachi squarely in the chest and sending him flying into the treeline.

"You know, I found a note today from Fugaku. He wants to meet with me," Shisui said as he took the moment to catch his breath. Itachi was slow to make his way back into the clearing and seemed to be unsure of how to respond. "I'm going to see what he wants, Itachi. Maybe this will help us understand what's going on and why we saw him breaking into his own office last night."

Itachi nodded as he was still trying to regain his ability to breathe normally. "I'm just trying to figure things out with what we have. I trust that whatever you find out from him you will come back and tell me, so I can't really do much other than wonder what he might possibly want."

Shisui looked down in thought. He had wondered the same thing and knew that he would tell Itachi anything now that they both seemed to be involved in something that was far greater than themselves. "You're like my brother, Itachi. We're in this together," he said as he reached out his two fingers for Itachi to grasp in the international sign of a good, friendly ninja match.

Itachi took the fingers knowing that they indeed had a bond that was rivaled by few. He only had to sit back and wait for the meeting between his father and Shisui to be over before he could move on and add more to all that was going through his head. He watched his best friend flicker away before he decided to take a moment to lay out in the field and stare at the clouds like he saw many in the Nara clan do. He could wait a few hours to figure things out. He had to.

* * *

As the day ticked by, Itachi found himself getting bored and wondering how long a meeting with Fugaku could possibly take. Shisui had been gone for a grand total of five hours already, and that was making Itachi worry. He figured that nothing would happen to Shisui since he had been cleared in whatever investigation the police had been conducting, but that didn't mean things couldn't have changed since they had gone through the files the night before.

Itachi aimlessly started pulling pieces of grass up and letting them drop back to the ground when a familiar chakra signature appeared at the edge of the clearing. The raven was up and moving in Shisui's direction as soon as the chakra started moving away in the direction he knew the waterfall was in. When they finally arrived in the cave behind the falls, Shisui rounded on Itachi and pinned him to the wall, sharingan spinning wildly.

"Sh-Shisui, what happened?" Itachi asked frantically trying to figure out what had happened to his friend. Of course, the panic on his face was more than enough for Shisui to release his hold and fall to the floor in hysterical laughter.

"Gotcha! Your face was priceless," Shisui said as he wiped the tears from his black-colored eyes.

Itachi waited for Shisui to be finished with his games while he fumed about being tricked like that. "You know, you really had me worried. I even went as far as to think you had been brainwashed. You were gone for five hours," he said as he tapped his fingers on his arm impatiently.

Shisui seemed to sober up at that and reached up for Itachi to pull him into standing again. "Sorry," he shrugged. "I kept trying to leave, but none of them seemed to want me to. I was surrounded by Konoha Police, I had no choice."

"You were surrounded by police? What happened?" Itachi asked wondering what kind of situation could have possibly led to that.

"Yeah, so, the meeting with Fugaku was interesting. He initially just had me in his office where we discussed my services to the Uchiha and how well I did my job and all the things we already know about me really. Then he told me that he wanted me to join the police force to work under him specifically."

"What did you tell him?" Itachi asked not expecting his father to ask that of Shisui and not him.

"Well, since we came across all that stuff in the files, and he had been there last night and seems to have no idea that we were as well, I decided that it was the perfect opportunity to figure out what was going on and gather more information for us," Shisui said feeling a little apprehensive about not having discussed it with Itachi before hand and wondering what he might say.

Of course, Itachi wasn't a fool and knew they needed the information if they were going to get anywhere, so he couldn't blame Shisui for what he had done and simply gestured for his friend to continue with his story.

Shisui sighed in relief. "So, most of my five hours away consisted of the entire police force throwing me a welcoming party. It was like they knew I wouldn't say no, which I thought was interesting, and then a few of them pulled me aside and gave me my first assignment as a member," he said and then looked down at the ground in shame. "They want me to spy on you, Itachi. I don't know what it is you did specifically, but I'm tasked in keeping tabs on you."

"Clearly, they don't know our dynamic as well as they should, huh?" Itachi chuckled darkly as there was no real humor in his words, but they both knew that this situation was now exceptionally advantageous for them. Shisui would provide half false information, and Itachi would end up getting the real information in return.

"Yeah, I almost laughed when they told me who they wanted me to keep tabs on. You are my best friend after all."

"So, what do we do now?" Itachi asked as he sat on one of the boulders in the cave.

"Well, there wasn't really any information given to me over the course of my meeting today. I've been told that there's actually a clan meeting later in the week if you want to hold off on taking missions for a few days just so we can catch up on all that's going on within the clan. Especially, since most of the Uchiha I come in contact with seem to have a secret understanding of something that I haven't quite figured out yet," Shisui said as he joined Itachi in sitting on an adjacent rock and leaned back so that he was resting against Itachi.

"I've noticed the hushed voices and conspiring as well," Itachi confessed as he leaned into Shisui, too. "It seems that whatever's going on will probably be discussed at a meeting. Do you think I'll be welcomed?"

Shisui shrugged in response. "I know that they can't very well turn you away since you are the future Clan Head and all. I guess you should just be discreet about being there and leave before anyone even notices your presence. It should be fine."

Itachi nodded in thought. He didn't particularly like going to clan meetings, but he didn't really feel he had a need to skip this time. Something important might need his attention, and he couldn't very well leave Shisui there to fend for himself. They were in this together after all.

* * *

Fortunately for both Uchiha teens, the rest of the week went by relatively quickly. Shisui had been slowly feeding the police and Fugaku false information about Itachi, and in return, Shisui provided all the information he could on the going-ons of the Uchiha patriarchs. Unfortunately, they weren't getting very far in their own information collecting as Shisui was still new to the police and therefore wasn't entirely trusted, yet. Itachi could only hope that this clan meeting today would be enough to give them exactly what they needed to start formulating a plan.

As Itachi walked into the clan meeting area just a few minutes before the meeting was set to start, he made eye contact with Fugaku so that his father knew he had attended, but Fugaku seemed like he couldn't have been bothered with his son either way. Shisui was attending the meeting as well and had saved a spot for him to sit.

"Took you long enough to get here," whispered Shisui as to not be overheard by the deeper voices in the Uchiha crowd.

"This isn't exactly my favorite activity, Shisui. Can you blame me for taking my time?" Itachi whispered back as he scanned the men around him being sure that no one was paying any particular attention to two of the youngest members in the meeting space.

"Yeah. I was afraid you would have left me here to fend for myself," said Shisui as Itachi shot him a look and rolled his eyes at the mere thought of leaving Shisui on his own. Things had to be left at that though as Fugaku stepped up to beginning discussing whatever this meeting was meant to be about.

The things Fugaku started speaking about seemed pretty routine in Itachi's mind which bored him to no end. It was mostly mentions of security and whatnot until his father mentioned something about the way the Uchiha's were being treated by the rest of Konoha and the Hokage. He glanced to his right and saw that Shisui had the same concerned expression on his own face to let him know that he wasn't hearing things. _This wasn't good_.

"The Uchiha Clan has lost much of its prominence and stature over the years since Konoha was founded and especially after the kyuubi attack eight years ago," said Fugaku and a chorus of approval echoed his words. "We need to give the Uchiha a name again. This should no longer be a state of passivity, Konoha and her citizens should no longer think of the Uchiha as friend but as a force to be reckoned with!"

Itachi couldn't believe his ears. What he was hearing from his father seemed out there even for him. He glanced in Shisui's direction again and saw that his best friend was looking at him as if he was expecting them to have left already. Unfortunately, they would need to wait as they needed to hear everything that was said about this ridiculous plan to bring the Uchiha back into power. Once it seemed that the meeting was coming to a close and many of the men started mingling and talking amongst themselves, Itachi nodded to Shisui and led the way out as quickly and as silently as he could while the crowd of Uchiha patriarchs continued their blasphemous discussion on the future of the clan.

"What was that all about?" asked Shisui as soon as they were running through the forest and were far enough away from the Uchiha district not to be heard by prying ears.

"Well," said Itachi trying to figure out where to start in his story and then opting to tell Shisui everything that went on after the battle with the teacup. Of course, he would leave out his recent involvement with Kakashi since that had nothing to do with their current situation, and if he ever did decide to involve Kakashi in Uchiha affairs, Shisui would certainly be the first one to know about it.

So, he told Shisui everything which took the rest of the time of them running through the forest and a while after that of them sitting by the waterfall where they had always gotten together to talk. When he had finished his story, he allowed Shisui time to process. Considering the meeting they had just left, it wasn't hard for either of them to believe what the masked man had said, but the question now remained as to how they were going to counter it.

"Do you think we should take this to the Hokage?" asked Shisui as he continued to ponder their own plan of attack.

"I don't think we should involve the Hokage until we feel that we cannot handle this on our own," said Itachi as he had already considered that as one of his options. "Because we happen to be at a distinct advantage of each of us working in the ANBU and for the police force, I think that we could take care of this if we really worked on it."

Shisui thought about the idea of them handling an Uchiha uprising on their own and decided that might be the only way to prevent their clan from falling even farther from grace in the eyes of their village. "Okay," he said. "What did you have in mind?"

Itachi said nothing. It was an excellent question, and he really didn't have a clue as to how to go about stopping whatever the Uchiha seemed to be planning, though he knew they should probably figure something out sooner rather than later. Sometimes, he wondered why he cared so much.

* * *

Itachi made his way back to his home in the Uchiha District. He tried not to think too much about the conversation that he and Shisui had just had, but it was proving rather difficult to ignore. It had become clear to both of the young men that things within the clan were on a downhill course to destruction, and they seemed to be the only one's that wanted to stop it or even just found something wrong with it.

The young Uchiha landed on the path that wound through his family's front yard. Staring at the imposing mansion before him, Itachi sighed in exhaustion. He hadn't gotten much sleep all week, and he felt maybe too much had been asked of him this time. Of course, he knew that some of it was partially his own fault, but he could get around that. He just needed to figure out what he was going to do if the Uchiha uprising got past the point of no return.

As he made his way into the house, Itachi breathed a sigh of relief when he couldn't hear any sign of an argument coming from his parents' room. He followed the dim light that flooded the hall from the kitchen and found his mother sitting at the table staring intently at her hands.

"Hello Mother," said Itachi, startling Mikoto out of her daydream.

"Ah, Itachi. Where have you been all day?" she asked as she straightened out her skirt and made herself seem more put together than she felt.

"I've been busy catching up on all the going-ons around town," he said as he moved around the kitchen to make himself a plate of leftovers from dinner. "Where are Father and Sasuke?"

Mikoto smiled sadly at the table. "Your father hasn't returned from the clan meeting yet, and Sasuke has been practicing a fireball technique down by the lake all day. He came home slightly burned and exhausted, so I sent him to bed after he ate a light dinner." She looked up to see if her eldest son had any opinions on her husband's whereabouts, and she was shocked when she saw his lips thin out in apprehension. _What did he know?_

"Father will probably be home any minute now," said Itachi putting the Uchiha mask back on his face as to try not to give too many things away despite his trust in his mother.

"Yes, you're probably right," she said looking downtrodden and knowing that she wouldn't be getting anymore information from her son.

Feeling bad, Itachi reached down and gave Mikoto a warm, comforting hug that he only ever gave to her on the rarest of occasions. He then decided to go up to his room and perhaps check on Sasuke as well. "Goodnight, Mother," he said as he left the kitchen. She would stay awake until Fugaku got home, and they both knew that this night would be lots of long hours spent waiting for the Clan Head to make an appearance.

As he passed the room, Itachi only heard the soft snores of his little brother. He slid open the door and walked into the room closing it silently behind him. He stood in the dark with his back against the door as he watched the form softly rise and fall with the small bits of light that came in through the window. Itachi moved across the room silently and sat on the edge of the bed. He leaned his back against the headboard and mindlessly carded his hand through the rumpled raven spikes on his sleeping brother's head. Itachi knew that Sasuke wouldn't wake up until morning, so he had no reason to think that the eight year old would ever even know of his older brother's late night visit.

The elder of the pair allowed himself a moment to breathe in the presence of the sleeping boy. Sasuke always begged Itachi to help him train, but Itachi could never bring himself to do it. He couldn't purposefully put Sasuke in harms way, and the kid was practically an accident magnet.

He smiled to himself thinking how much better spending time like this was. As he continued to pet the raven head, Itachi scanned his brother to look for any changes he may have not noticed after seeing him yesterday. It was hard with the blanket in the way, but he did seem taller which made Itachi wish silently for Sasuke to stop growing. The bandages around his mouth reminded Itachi of the first time he had attempted to learn a fireball jutsu. He absentmindedly touched the skin around his own mouth as the ghosts of scars still lingered there. It was probably good that he had no need for facial hair anyway.

With the door clicking shut behind him, Itachi left just as silently as he had come. He and Shisui would succeed in their plans to prevent the Uchiha from destroying themselves. As long as Sasuke lived in the village, they would have no choice.

* * *

**So, any thoughts on what their plan is? Let me know what you think! Thanks again!**

**IPG**


	7. Chapter 6

**It's been a long time, but this chapter was harder to write than I had expected. Happy October!**

**IPG**

* * *

Chapter 6

Itachi stood in the forest clearing waiting patiently for the masked man to make an appearance once more. It had been some time since Itachi had seen him, two years to be exact, but that didn't matter to him now. Itachi had sensed the strange man's chakra as he had been heading home from an ANBU training session through the woods and had no choice but to follow it. The mysterious man had predicted the Uchiha coup d'etat in some way, and he was going to probe the man for answers as much as he could without raising any sort of suspicion on his end. The coup needed to be figured out and stopped, and the added fact that he had a sharingan was too unsettling for Itachi to simply ignore.

As the dark figure appeared before him, Itachi was the model Uchiha, giving away nothing and keeping the emotionless mask firmly in place over his pale features. The masked man didn't seem to pay any mind to it though as he seemed to have arrived with business of his own.

"Itachi Uchiha, it's been some time since we last met," called the deep voice from across the clearing. "I'm sure you've come to heed my warning by now."

"Interesting that you happened to know about that before anything even happened. I'm quite surprised at your premonitive skills," said Itachi who was simply making conversation to see what the masked man might give away.

The man in the cloak chuckled darkly. "It seems nothing gets by your watchful eyes, young Uchiha. Have you figured out what it is that you will require my assistance with, yet?" he asked casually giving away nothing as to what he might be talking about.

"Well, by this point I can only assume that if you're assisting me, then it is to stop this little coup being planned by the Uchiha, but in the exact way you will be helping me, I am unsure," Itachi said as he continued searching his mind for any possible inklings as to what the man might be referring to.

"No, I suppose you wouldn't," he said as he thought to himself. "Of course, you understand that I cannot give anything away. Everything must go accordingly."

_He has this planned?_ thought Itachi as he continued to observe the man mere feet away from him. "I'm sure that I will see it all in due time,"

"Much sooner than you know," he mumbled. "So, I happened to have come here with a purpose. You should know that whenever you need me, send me one of your infamous crows. Things will be picking up for you, and you will realize my worth quicker than you would like to admit. Until then, use your time wisely, Uchiha-san."

Itachi watched the man vanish into his strange swirling vortex that emanated from the man's only visible eye, and as soon as he was gone, Itachi was off and sprinting through the forest to find Shisui.

* * *

Shisui was sitting in meditation by the waterfall where he seemed to be spending most of his time as the years went by faster and the missions got harder. So as not to startle the man, Shisui was well aware of Itachi's approach by his flaring chakra that could be felt from miles away in the forest. Shisui was patient, of course, so it was no problem for him to continue in his meditating until his best friend arrived.

"Shisui, I have news," Itachi said as he quickly sat crosslegged in front of his friend.

Shisui slowly came out of his relaxed state to give Itachi his undivided attention before indicating for the man to continue.

"I've just met with the masked man that I told you about after that clan meeting a few months back. He seemed to have been able to predict this whole mess, and though the information I gathered isn't extensive by any means, I think it's enough for us to start making decisions and formulating a decent plan," Itachi said as he was trying to bring down his excitement levels and keep from bouncing in his seat.

"You met the masked man? Was there a genjutsu this time? What did you gather from the meeting?" asked Shisui, who seemed to be just as excited about the news that they might be able to move on with their planning as Itachi.

Itachi chuckled. "Yes, he called me into a forest clearing with his own chakra flare. This conversation was normal, no genjutsu or jutsu of any kind present as far as I could tell, and the meeting was interesting. From what I've gathered, he has this entire thing planned out. He brought up our first conversation where he told me to keep my precious people close and that I would be asking him to help me with something though he wouldn't tell me what. He also told me that he summoned me to tell me that I could call him here with the use of one of my crow summons, so that can only be useful to us later on."

"Hmm, that is interesting," Shisui hummed as he thought about all the possibilities such information provided. "I hate to say it, but the way he warns you in keeping your precious people close makes me think that his assistance lays in the realm of them being taken away somehow. You don't think that we'll be forced into such drastic measures as extermination, do you?"

"Well, I've actually been wondering that since he said it the first time, and since he's reiterated it, it only makes me believe in its truth even more. My question is, how does he know such things and how will they happen if they do?" Itachi asked as he propped his head on his hand in thought.

"Well, we could speak in hypothetical terms if you'd like," Shisui said knowing that they would be better prepared if they could plan for the worst and hope for the chance to stop it instead of being unprepared and having to fix it later. Itachi nodded for him to continue with his thoughts, so he did. "I was just thinking, what if the masked man has it all planned out that all of the Uchiha except you are meant to die. You said he had a sharingan so we can only assume that he has used genjutsu on other people of the village, perhaps he is even the driving force behind the coup and everyone within Konoha is simply a pawn for him to dispose of himself as he sees fit. What if this is all just some sort of sick and twisted game for him to do with as he pleases? How do we plan to stop him then?"

"Hmm, all valid points," said Itachi who was pondering how exactly he would go about stopping someone that had orchestrated their entire situation. "I suppose the best way to do that would be to undermine the genjutsu."

"Exactly, but say that the genjutsu was more of a suggestive thought rather than a full on alternate world created by the wielder. How would you handle it then?" asked Shisui as he seemed to be playing out all possible angles that the masked man was probably playing at as well.

"You would have to kill the pawn at that point and establish new leadership and order," said Itachi as an unfortunately horrible thought crossed his mind. He watched as Shisui's lips thinned in reaction to his own thoughts and could only assume that the same thought had crossed his friend's mind as well. _Fugaku Uchiha was the pawn._

"There have to be other options besides killing though, right?" asked Shisui as the thought of killing the Clan Head seemed far too extreme, especially when that Clan Head was Itachi's father.

"Shi, we have to plan out the worst case scenario remember? It's for the good of the entire village, and it would save a lot of innocent lives if he needed to be sacrificed. Don't worry about that just yet," he said before adding, "I'll definitely be the one to kill him if it has to come to that though."

Shisui nodded before losing himself in thought once more. "Do you think that we might be able to play through his genjutsu with one of our own?" he asked as different options swirled through his mind.

"Seeing as the masked man seems to have far more control and practice than we do, and that we are only fifteen, means that we would need to practice. I'm not going to say we can't do it, because we could if we played it out perfectly, but based on the genjutsu that he trapped me in without me even having a chance to counteract it, means that this would have to be a flawless work of art to rival all other genjutsus that have ever been casted. It is definitely an option though," said Itachi as he tried to figure out the world they would need to construct in order to pull something like that off.

"Well, then let's practice that and also plan out our strategies for our time in this reality, as well, hmm?" Shisui said as his mind went to work on all possible ways to counteract the coup d'etat and all the chaos erupting around them. _It would all work out, _he thought, _they just needed time to think._

* * *

The pair decided that it was about time to inform the Hokage of the coup d'etat if he hadn't heard of it already. They decided to call a meeting with him in private in order to discuss their findings and their options on what they should do to handle the situation with their clan. Hiruzen seemed to understand what they were talking about since he had noticed that the police force had been getting too forceful with the citizens they arrested and that the number of people being arrested had gone up drastically throughout the past months.

The Hokage decided to discuss the matter with the village elders as he was sure that they would know what actions would be best to take for Konoha. He only wondered what the two young Uchiha had decided to do about it in the time that they had known of the coup's existence. Hiruzen decided to call a meeting with Itachi and Shisui so they could start forming a plan of their own.

"Hokage-sama, I'm sure that you have ideas of your own on how to handle the possibility of an uprising. What would you like us to do in order to bring this to a good conclusion for Konoha?" asked Itachi as he sat next to Shisui before their village leader for the second time that week.

"It's such a burden to place on your young shoulders, but the council and I seem to have come to a disagreement as to how to handle the situation," Hiruzen said as he puffed on his pipe looking troubled. "It seems that our idea to use young Shisui's Kotoamatsukami to subtly suggest protecting the village instead of harming it isn't entirely favored amongst the elders that I spoke with. I'm sure we will be able to sway them into seeing it our way, but until that time arrives, I'm not sure that there's much we can do."

Itachi and Shisui spared a glance at each other before looking back towards the Hokage. It wasn't great news by anyone's standards, but they had merely included the Hokage as a formality over anything else. Whatever the elders had to say about it was no real concern of theirs despite the kind of authority they may hold in such situations.

"What do you suggest we do until such a time arrives?" asked Shisui who wondered if they were meant to stay inactive until decisions amongst the village leader and the council were made.

"I want you to continue what you have been doing. You both are immersed in this situation and living amongst those that are to see such things through. It's your duty to Konoha and to your clan that you do what you think is best in order to keep as many people safe as you can," said Hiruzen as he tapped the ash from his pipe before filling it and lighting it again. "I have faith in your abilities, and you are both very talented at such young ages. You are as essential to the village as I am, and I'm sure that your Will of Fire will see things through for you until the end. Until next time, you are dismissed."

Not needing to be told again, Shisui led the way out followed closely by Itachi. They were glad to be able to do something with their time while they waited for news from the council, but something in Itachi's gut told him that he wasn't going to like the council's decision. Of course, he could always deal with it when it came, so he brushed it off in favor of focusing his energies on practicing his genjutsu abilities with Shisui.

* * *

The sun was setting and both Itachi and Shisui sat in a clearing facing each other on the grass. Each had their eyes closed and seemed to be panting from exertion though they hadn't moved an inch since sitting down.

"Ready?" asked Shisui as he inhaled a few times to calm himself. They had decided to practice their abilities in getting creative with their genjutsu worlds, which he was wondering for the umpteenth time since starting if that had been such a good idea.

"Go for it," said Itachi who had opened his eyes to give Shisui the chance to put him under again. So far, they had seen Konoha on fire, several deaths of various people they cared about including the Hokage, each of their families, and their ANBU teams, a world where every time Itachi tried to summon a crow he received a chicken instead, and each of them had taken away their ability to see so that they could practice navigating blind if necessary.

Shisui opened his eyes and a flash of red sharingan was there and gone in a matter of moments. Itachi looked around at their surrounding not feeling that anything was off and wondered if Shisui needed a break from practicing.

"Did you do anything?" asked Itachi as he turned to look back at his best friend. It was in that moment that the scenery switched to them standing before the waterfall, and Itachi was so uncomfortable with the imagery that he had to keep himself from breaking out of the genjutsu.

Before him stood Shisui, smiling and offering him an eye, his eye, so that he might be able to keep it safe. Itachi took it because that's what friends do and watched as he was unable to stop Shisui from falling off the cliff and into the river below.

_What the hell is going on here?_ he wondered as he tried to remind himself that this was all just a genjutsu no matter how expertly crafted this world seemed to be. He put his hands together and let his chakra disrupt the flow of Shisui's genjutsu only to find himself in another place entirely. _A genjutsu inside of a genjutsu, clever Shi._

He disrupted his chakra flow again and found himself back in the clearing with Shisui laying down on the grass with his hand covering his eyes.

"Done for today?" asked Itachi as he laid out in the grass as well. The sun had gone down on them and he figured that it was about time that they head home anyway, so it wasn't a problem that Shisui needed a break.

"Yeah, crafting worlds within worlds is a lot harder than you would think," he said peeking out from under his hand. "What'd you think of my imagination that time?"

"Disturbing," Itachi said as he helped Shisui to his feet. "Who has that kind of twisted imagination?"

"Hey, you never know what you will come across in this world. It might come in handy later," said Shisui as they slowly began to stroll toward the Uchiha District.

"I suppose," said the long-haired raven trying not to let a shiver of discomfort roll down his spine. He would need to think of something really good to get back at him for the next time they decided to practice.

* * *

Several more weeks of genjutsu training came and went, but Itachi didn't feel like it was getting to where he thought it should be. Their abilities in scaring the shit out of each other were completely on par and they each could fabricate worlds that flowed with reality flawlessly. Still, something was missing.

"Shisui, do you think it'd be possible to place two people into the same genjutsu world to the point that they could interact with each other and alter the same space?" asked Itachi as he pondered through his own knowledge of genjutsu and the sharingan.

"I can't imagine why it wouldn't be possible, but it'd be difficult since you'd have to put two people under at the same time," said Shisui as he pondered the idea himself.

"What if I said that I might be able to get someone to help us practice that?" Itachi said as he leaned over to rest his elbow on the grass.

"Who did you have in mind?" asked Shisui as Itachi summoned a crow and sent it off to find Kakashi. There wouldn't be a problem, he was sure.

Within moments, the silver-haired man appeared at the edge of the clearing waving at them lazily. "Hello, young Uchiha. You rang?" he said as he approached and sat amongst the pair in the grass.

"Kakashi-san, pleasure as always," Shisui smiled briefly before letting the Uchiha mask fall over his face as every Uchiha was conditioned into doing around non-Uchiha.

"Kakashi, I called you here because we need help testing something, a genjutsu," said Itachi who wanted to get into practicing again as soon as possible. "Do you think you can help us?"

"Ah, training. May I ask why the two of you cannot do it yourselves?" asked Kakashi who seemed amused that they had requested him above all the other skilled Uchiha in their clan.

"We need to practice a technique in which a world is fabricated around two people and due to circumstances that we are currently working on, we cannot use anyone from our clan. So, will you help us?" asked Itachi who was silently willing the man into saying yes without asking anymore questions. It seemed to work as Kakashi merely nodded his consent, and they each turned to face Shisui to be put under.

"Are you ready?" Shisui asked as he closed his eyes in preparation. He decided that a simple, neutral world would be fair on his first attempt at their little experiment, so he gathered it in his mind and quickly opened his eyes to try and place both men under at the same time and in the same world.

Of course, the first time only got Itachi because Kakashi didn't seem to trust the circumstances quite yet, and after that, it was a lot of sending both men under but not into the same world. After several attempts, Itachi decided that it was time to give Shisui a break so that he might be able to try.

In no way did the long-haired raven expect their experiment to be so difficult to accomplish. They had tried every possible combination of things and nothing seemed to want to work. _It had to be possible, he knew it did, but what did they need to make it work?_

"Umm, may I suggest something?" asked Kakashi while both Uchiha men sprawled out in the grass, exhausted. "Do you think it's not working because our chakra isn't melded?"

Shisui sat up in realization that Kakashi could be on to something. "Quick, Itachi, transfer some of your chakra with him," he said motioning to Kakashi who was preening in his genius.

Itachi threw his arm out for Kakashi to grab as the raven didn't really want to move much and allowed his chakra to leak through their connection and into Kakashi's body. Once Itachi could feel the invasive chakra within his own body, he sat up and nodded at Shisui to try again.

Shisui nodded in return and turned on his Sharingan to send them both into one of his many fabricated worlds.

When they landed, Itachi turned to Kakashi with a quizzical look on his face. "Did we make it?" he asked as he released the man's hand and turned to take in their surroundings.

"Hmm, that really worked," Kakashi said as he flexed his hand that was now empty and losing all of the extra heat it had gained from being connected to the younger man.

"Do you think we should test things while we're here?" asked Itachi as he wandered to the trees to test their durability in such a fragile world.

"I don't see the harm in it," Kakashi shrugged as he quickly tackled Itachi, pinning him to the tree. "Okay, since we're finally alone, I can see this going one of two ways. One, you tell me why you are playing such delicate games with each other's minds, and I turn a blind eye to the whole thing because I care about you, or two, you don't tell me what this is all about and simply allow me to fill in the blanks as any extraordinarily skilled ANBU would. It's your choice, but I'm too far into this to be left out of it any longer. It's time that you trust me and tell me what's been going on with you for the past two years."

Itachi glared at Kakashi for catching him off guard and still being stronger than he was so that he couldn't wriggle free. He hung his head in defeat knowing that Kakashi was smart enough to figure things out on his own and that he had given them enough space and time to figure things out, so an explanation was exactly what he deserved to hear. Thinking about all of the events of his teenaged life up to this point, Itachi allowed his eyes to bleed crimson before looking up quickly and catching Kakashi's eye before the man ever had a chance to look away.

His grip slackened to the point where Itachi could move away from Kakashi's grasp and go out exploring. He always enjoyed seeing what kinds of things Shisui could think up, and he was happy to say that he had never actually been sent into this world before. It was quaint and homey, and Itachi was content in finding someplace to mess with his own chakra to see what might happen.

* * *

After what seemed like days, Kakashi finally came out of the genjutsu Itachi had put him in after he had pinned the man to a tree. He knew he had set himself up for that, so there wasn't anyone to blame, but his head was killing him from the rush of information that Itachi had shared and he needed to find the man in order to discuss all of their findings. He wandered slowly, stretching every muscle that had set itself after such an extended period of inactivity and found himself in a quaint little town made of small shops and houses with people wandering around and chattering amongst themselves. Down the street a ways, Kakashi could clearly see Itachi chatting with a pair of elderly women as he strolled past their store.

The silver-haired man made his way down the street toward the raven only to find that all of the people suddenly vanished leaving only himself and Itachi in the abandoned streets.

"It took you long enough to come out of that," said Itachi as he turned to look at his real world companion. "I've had plenty of time to experiment with this world, as you can clearly see, and I'm now certain that this will work, but we should probably get back before Shisui starts to worry."

"You're able to fabricate your own scenery on top of this one?" asked Kakashi as he glanced around to find that there truly weren't anymore people around them at all. "How long was I under?"

"Well, I'd say around four days, but I had quite a bit of information to share with you, so don't feel bad about missing out. I'm sure that we'll be trying this again in a few days," said the raven as he glanced about the abandoned town.

"Hmm, I'm sure next time will be rivetting," Kakashi retorted as he placed a hand on Itachi's shoulder and said "Kai!"

* * *

Both men were thrown back into reality and had to pause for a moment so that they could reorient themselves. Shisui was there looking at them expectantly, and Itachi simply grinned in his happiness.

"We did it!" he said as he sat back on his hands and let his head roll back to look at the sky. "How long have we been out?"

"Really? We did?" asked Shisui who seemed just as excited about their accomplishment as his friend was. "It's only been an hour, but it felt like an eternity waiting for you to come back and tell me what you found out."

"Only and hour? We were there for four days!" said Kakashi as he let himself fall back onto the grass.

"Ignore him. He's just mad that I put him under a genjutsu that lasted that long," Itachi said as he rolled his eyes at Kakashi's drama. "Oh, I figured that it was inevitable, but I told Kakashi about our plans and what's been going on. He's been kind enough to help us, so it's only fair in my opinion."

"Fine, fine, but you put him under a genjutsu inside of my genjutsu? Think of all the possibilities this presents!" exclaimed Shisui as he started rambling on about all that they had uncovered through their experimentations.

Kakashi listened to the pair as they discussed their findings and chatted about what they would do the next time that they practiced. He smiled knowing that he would be there to help them. He knew enough now that helping was the least that he could do. He decided to let his mind wander enough that he could rest and figured one of the Uchiha would wake him when they were ready to go.

* * *

Within the council meeting area, business between the Hokage and his most trusted friends and advisors was being conducted. Hiruzen was not happy with how the meeting was going and wondered how he had ended up with such stuck up, closed-minded friends as his peers. Of course, his idea to give Shisui and Itachi a bit of leeway in what they wished to do with their clan business was shot down immediately, and Danzo had been at the head of that campaign. For some reason, his long time friend had some issue with allowing 'boys' to run the show despite their ranks and qualifications.

Hiruzen had resorted to smoking his pipe looking far too old to be doing his job any longer. Why Danzo had wanted such a position in the village was anyone's guess at this point, but he pondered through the darker man's words none the less.

"Let me handle the coup d'etat. I'm sure that things will be perfectly fine as long as the problem is eradicated," said Danzo, and Koharu nodded her consent to such ideas.

"Yes, I believe that is the right path to take. One can never be too careful in situations like these. Best to take care of the problem so that no further problems can arise from it in the future," she said as she turned her beady eyes on Hiruzen.

"You cannot simply wipe out an entire clan of Konoha no matter what you feel is right. There are still innocent lives that exist there. Just give the young Uchiha boys a chance to work it out," the Hokage said, shocked that they were even discussing such things.

"Danzo is right in his assessment of the situation, though I believe that we can afford to give young Itachi and Shisui a chance to fix things before such actions are taken," Homura said as he turned to his companions getting a nod from each except Danzo who seemed to be pouting. With that, their meeting was adjourned, and Danzo slipped away to plan out his next move.

Two ROOT agents looking almost identical to ANBU appeared to kneel in front of their master. "What are your orders, Sir?" asked one of the men before him, and he was practically giddy with glee in all that would take place for them within the next few weeks.

"I need you to deliver a summons to a young Itachi Uchiha with a request to meet a few days from now at the outer base of ROOT Headquarters," said Danzo holding his own stony expression over his face. He would get his way in this, of course. His sharingan collection counted on it.

* * *

**Wooo! It's up! Finally! So, I'm debating a lemon next chapter and wanted to know what you all thought about that.  
So, let me know what you think!**

**IPG**


	8. Chapter 7

*****Standard disclaimer*  
**Enjoy, dear readers.**

**IPG**

* * *

Chapter 7

Due to Danzo's summons, Itachi's celebrations were short lived. He couldn't understand why the village elder had wanted to see him other than the fact that it might have something to do with the coup and his opinions on how to deal with it. Itachi knew that Danzo was one of the main opposing factors in their plans to stop the Uchiha from starting a civil war, but he figured that most of the communication between the council and he and Shisui would be done through the Hokage, so being requested for a meeting was something unexpected entirely.

Itachi decided to take his time in getting to the meeting place Danzo had requested as he didn't want to go in the first place but had too much respect for higher ranking people to say no. Shisui had practically begged to come along as well, but the long-haired raven would have nothing of it as that might disrupt the balance of their delicate situation amongst those in control of Konoha. He had, however, promised to find his best friend as soon as the meeting was finished so that they could discuss what the mysterious elder wanted.

As he walked through a large arch in the high concrete fence and approached the main building on the property, he could sense the appearance of several chakra signatures not far from his location, but all were hidden from his sight. _I'm being watched, fantastic, _he thought which made him feel particularly uneasy about Danzo's intentions with this meeting. He'd have to be extra cautious if he intended to leave in remotely the same way that he had arrived.

Once in front of the seemingly ordinary structure, Danzo appeared on the porch before him with a sardonic grin crossing his face. Of course, Itachi's finely honed instincts told him to flee at that very moment, but he held his feet in place and bowed slightly to the bandaged councilman.

"Ah, Uchiha-san, just the person I was expecting," Danzo said in his deep, raspy voice as he motioned for Itachi to step onto the porch to follow him inside. Knowing that he may very well regret such a decision later, Itachi followed the elderly man and the door slid shut behind them.

Danzo led the way down a dimly lit hall and turned into a sparsely furnished room where he sat on a cushion on the floor and motioned for Itachi to join him. The raven did as he was requested and sat across from the man and had to wonder, once again, why he had been summoned.

"Itachi, I've asked you here to give you the news on the council's decision in regards to the coup d'etat and how you should proceed from today forward," he said getting Itachi's attention.

Of course, Itachi had to wonder if the Hokage had agreed to this, but he would listen to what the man said anyway as it may only help them in the long run. He looked at Danzo squarely waiting for him to continue with his plans whether they were sanctioned or not, and the man seemed to take the hint and moved along.

"The Kotoamatsukami that Shisui Uchiha wants to use isn't going to work. I know each of you has high hopes for it, but it's time that you both face the hard truth that the conclusion of this will be that an end must come to the Uchiha clan," said Danzo looking imposing and serious, like a man that knew what he wanted and would stop at nothing to get it. "Understand that I know this is your clan we are speaking of, but I'm simply trying to look out for the village in my own way, and it's a way that Hiruzen is sometimes too soft to see clearly."

"So, you wish for me to kill my clan. What about Shisui?" asked Itachi as he wondered what Danzo planned to do in the instance that a Kotoamatsukami did work on the Uchiha, and Danzo didn't get what he wanted. That was, of course, the more likely course of action seeing that he was in charge of his own destiny and would be damned if he let Danzo try and manipulate him or anyone else he cared about, so the talk was really all theoretical on his part.

"Shisui will be handled in due time. I've been trying to decide a good time to meet that wouldn't be horribly inconvenient timing, but it's nothing to concern yourself with, of course," said Danzo as he tapped the end of his cane in his open palm in thought.

Itachi watched him for a while and realized that Danzo expected him to obey with nothing more to it than that. He decided that bowing again was his best option at this point, but he opted out of saying anything else as to not give away his position in the matter. Danzo could read what he wanted from a bow anyway. _The opinions of snakes didn't matter to birds after all,_ he thought. _They were simply tasty meals when necessary._

"Good. Now, you are dismissed, young Uchiha," Danzo said in a way that could only be construed as finite, and Itachi was all too happy to oblige. There were certainly more important things he would rather be doing at this point in the day anyway.

* * *

Shisui was sitting by the waterfall meditating. After discovering the wonders of the genjutsu the three men had been playing with all week, Shisui had decided that it was time to get down to business and truly fabricate a fantastic, believable world within his mind. He figured that if they were ever going to put anything they learned into practice, they were going to need a base that fell in the realm of reality so that anyone put under Shisui's genjutsu wouldn't feel the need to break out of it.

He felt Itachi land silently beside him and peeked at the man to see that he was okay and that the visit was a friendly one as they usually were.

"That meeting wasn't very long, Itachi. Are you sure you went to it and didn't just shirk your responsibilities for something more enjoyable?" asked Shisui in a teasing manner since they both knew that neither of them would even dream of neglecting their responsibilities in a million years.

"It was a short meeting, Shi. Danzo's a man that knows what he wants and knows exactly how to demand it of people," Itachi said as he joined his friend on the ground.

"Pray tell. What did he demand of the most loyal Uchiha in the village?" Shisui asked feeling more amused as the moments passed. By the look on Itachi's face, it would be interesting at the very least.

"He wants us to give up on the Kotoamatsukami and destroy the clan. He says it's not going to work no matter what and that I must prepare myself for the day when I will start the extermination of the clan," Itachi said shaking his head in contempt.

"What am I, chopped liver?" the short-haired raven asked knowing that he was to be included in the Uchiha that were being exterminated. That didn't sit well with him, and he knew that Itachi was probably feeling the same way. "Well, what do you suggest that we do about him then? I know that he is a village elder and is trusted by the Hokage, but can we really allow him to talk like that and allow him to get his way?"

"I don't intend to," growled Itachi. He was glowering at the ground, but he didn't care that his Uchiha was slipping. There were too many lives at stake for him not to feel immense amounts of despair and grief over the prospect of losing them all and it being all his fault. "By the way, he wants to meet with you some day soon. I'm sure he'll send one of his lackeys to contact you with the details."

"Me? What could he want to discuss with me?" he asked feeling like there wouldn't be a need to discuss anything with someone that Danzo considered a lamb for slaughter.

Itachi simply shrugged in response. He'd probably figure it out soon enough, but he had intended to get a few other things done before the end of the day, and he knew that Shisui was determined to create the perfect genjutsu world for later use. So, it was best that they leave things so that they could think them over and meet to discuss their findings later.

* * *

After finding Shisui and telling him all about what a creep Danzo was, Itachi decided to go off and find Kakashi. He had never really gotten a chance to thank the man after he had helped them figure out how to work through their genjutsu issues, so he figured that perhaps cooking Kakashi dinner or something was a good way to show his appreciation.

On his way to Kakashi's apartment, he stopped by the market and picked up some food and supplies knowing full well that Kakashi's place was barren when it came to having food and general things that a person might want in order to feel comfortable and at home. He and Kakashi had talked about it once, and the silver-haired man had simply brushed it off, saying that he was in ANBU which held a far greater chance of him dying, and he took missions a lot so there was no real need to keep food around as it would most likely spoil in the time he was away anyway. Of course, Itachi couldn't argue that logic and had let it drop, but now that he wanted to make the man a meal, he was beginning to realize just how troublesome it was.

Knowing full well that Kakashi was out training with Team Ro and wouldn't be home when he arrived, Itachi slipped in through the kitchen window and got to work on one of the few meals he actually knew how to make. Ramen. He knew that it was generally bad for you and relatively high in sodium, but it was easy and surprisingly delicious when eaten on occasion. He certainly wasn't one of those crazy people that would eat it all the time, though.

"Yo," Kakashi said as Itachi was just putting the noodles into the broth after several hours of preparation.

"Finally. I was beginning to wonder if you would ever even show up," Itachi said sarcastically as he turned his back to the stove to face the other man. It was Kakashi's house after all, so he would have to come back at some point in time.

"What's all this for?" Kakashi asked as he stepped down from the counter and went to look into the pot of boiling soup. "Did I forget my birthday?"

"Hilarious," Itachi deadpanned. "I really just wanted to thank you for helping Shisui and I out the other day with the genjutsu. It meant a lot to me that you did that and to show my thanks I made you ramen. However, if you wanted this to be an extremely early birthday dinner seeing that it's May, I wouldn't object, though your sanity would be questioned."

Kakashi chuckled then inhaled deeply to get all of the fantastic aromas brewing within a pot that he didn't quite recognize. "Smells delicious. When will it be ready?" he asked as he moved away from the stove to wash his hands in the sink before pulling out bowls and chopsticks for them to eat with.

Itachi turned and stirred the contents of the pot before flipping off the burner and grabbing one of the bowls Kakashi was offering him. "Now, but it's still pretty hot so consider that fair warning," Itachi said as he handed off the first full bowl and went in to grab the other one.

The older ANBU took his dinner and sat at the table and was followed by Itachi soon after. "Itadakimasu," he said after they were both situated and sounds of slurping and contentment rang about the small kitchen space.

When they were finished, Kakashi offered to do the dishes while Itachi wandered into the living room and sat down on the couch.

"So, do you have any other plans for us tonight, or am I pretty much on my own after this?" called Kakashi from the kitchen over the sound of the running water.

Itachi blushed slightly at the plans that he had been dancing around for the better part of his trip to the market and his time cooking dinner. "Maybe," he said shrugging exaggeratedly into space trying to make himself feel less tense. "Why, did you wanna do something?"

"Maa, it doesn't matter to me. I was just curious seeing as you've done a pretty good job with this date night so far, and since we've been so busy and I was on a mission for a good amount of time I figured that you might want to stick around and hang out with me for a while longer," Kakashi said as he appeared in the open doorway drying his hands on a towel. He tossed the cloth into the kitchen behind him and walked slowly to sit next to the raven before easing the man onto his lap and kissing him tenderly.

"I guess I could stay a while longer," Itachi said between kisses as he straddled Kakashi's lap. They stayed that way for a moment before Kakashi moved them so that they were laying across the couch with him on top.

Itachi was enjoying their impromptu make-out session, but his mind wouldn't turn off. They had started unofficially dating about eight months ago right after Itachi had made a drunken fool of himself and Kakashi had seen him naked. Even though almost all of that time had been spent apart from each other with missions and village duties, Itachi couldn't help but feel like this was the right time to move along with their relationship, and he was trying really hard to ignore the butterflies in his stomach that were going crazy and that he was insanely nervous.

Steeling himself, Itachi turned his head to the side so that he could catch his breath and speak. "Kakashi," he said as the man in question started kissing up and down the side of Itachi's neck. He hummed in response so Itachi continued. "Tonight's the night."

Kakashi paused long enough for Itachi to see the puzzlement on his face before Itachi flipped their positions and ground their hips together in emphasis. The two-toned eyes went wide before he smiled and pulled the raven down to kiss him once more. "So, uh, wanna relocate?" he asked as he let Itachi up to breathe. The raven nodded in response, and Kakashi pulled them both up and practically dragged the young Uchiha into his darkened bedroom.

They stood next to the bed with Kakashi's arms wrapped around Itachi's waist rubbing small circles into his lower back. "Are you really sure about this?" Kakashi asked. "I mean I know you've heard me ask a million different times now and it's never really been right, but now I really want to know without sleep aides or alcohol or anything to hinder anyone's judgments whatsoever, are you ready?"

Itachi wrapped his hands in silver hair and pulled Kakashi down into a warm and loving kiss as he started to undress the taller man as his response, and Kakashi took to it enthusiastically.

Of course that was reason enough for the older man who grabbed the raven hair at the nape of Itachi's neck and tugged to make the pink lips part so that Kakashi could have a little fun tongue wrestling. The silver-haired man was glad that the Uchiha took to being submissive so well. Of course, it would have been difficult for Itachi to do much without any experience in topping or even being topped himself, but that was beside the point.

After undressing completely, Kakashi turned slowly with pale legs naturally wrapping themselves around his waist and strong arms wrapping languidly around his neck. The silver-haired captain quickly untangled himself from Itachi's lithe, pale body and threw the man onto the bed, before crawling predatorily over top of his waiting raven.

The older captain kissed the pale neck below him, slowly working his way down the toned chest where he laved each nipple to attention with his fingers and his tongue. This elicited the most beautiful mewls, whines, and moans Kakashi had ever heard come out of someone's mouth. As Kakashi's kisses and bites moved to the navel at the bottom of a perfectly muscled stomach, the older man let his hands move up and down slender sides which earned him a tense intake of breath from the body beneath him. The rough hands made their way up and back down torturously slower this time to be sure they found the exact location of that spot for future enjoyment. When his fingers touched the bottom of Itachi's ribs on his left side, the young Uchiha produced the most delicious moan ever.

"Are you alright?" asked the silver-haired ANBU before taking the hardened member into his mouth without waiting for an answer.

Itachi let his head roll back with a cry and gripped the sheets beneath his hands, every sensation a new form of bliss. Kakashi used one hand to rummage through the top drawer of his nightstand before pulling out a tube he had been looking for. While continuing his ministrations, Kakashi flipped open the bottle and lathered his fingers as well as he could. The silver-haired man began circling the puckered entrance at a torturously slow pace which was made worse by the way he slowed his sucking to match it. Kakashi could tell his young lover was frustrated by the slowness when he glanced up at the beautiful, pale face that was looking back with needy, lust-filled eyes. The older man smirked around the erection in his mouth before letting his first finger dive to the last knuckle inside of Itachi while he took the Uchiha's length all the way into his mouth for a round of deep throating.

Itachi found the intrusion rather odd. It wasn't exactly painful, but the feeling was certainly weird: however, he soon found it exceptionally difficult to think of anything at all when the back of Kakashi's throat swallowed around him.

Kakashi started wiggling his finger to get Itachi used to any kind of movement down there though it almost wasn't necessary since Itachi seemed born for this as he did in all of his endeavors. He even made more cute little noises which let Kakashi know that he was doing a good job.

Suddenly, Itachi bucked his hips rather violently toward Kakashi's face which could have ended badly for the other ANBU had he not already been pulling away. The silver-haired man didn't pay much mind to almost being choked though. He had found the spot he had been searching for, and with the addition of another finger, Itachi was well on his way to experiencing one of the best releases of his young life.

Despite the heat in the moment, Kakashi released his hold on the younger man which left Itachi empty and totally unsatisfied just as he was on the verge of release. With a glare of frustration all over his beautiful face, the raven lifted his head and was about to ask what the hell he stopped for, but Kakashi had captured his lips in a searing kiss while he slowly eased his lubricated member into his impatient raven lover. It occurred to Kakashi that this activity was one of the only things that seemed to lack Itachi's patience which made the corners of his mouth twitch into a smirk.

Itachi didn't notice Kakashi's amusement, and instead, gasped at all the feelings and sensations happening in his body. There was almost too much for him to process, but he did know that he should have started this kind of relationship with Kakashi a very long time ago. Of course, all of Itachi's thoughts vanished as soon as the man above him had thrust into that beautiful spot again, causing the raven to make the most fantastic sounds to ever grace an Uchiha's lips in the history of Konoha.

Feeling proud of himself for being one of the few outsiders to have ever seen an Uchiha be anything but emotionless and professional, Kakashi continued to thrust harder into the young raven beneath him, hitting that sweet spot every time.

Itachi could feel the climax building deep in the pit of his stomach, and he clawed at Kakashi's back as the feeling intensified. Kakashi smirked into Itachi's neck as he easily supported the additional weight of the raven hanging from him. He kissed the creamy skin of the beautiful young man beneath him and wondered how he could have possibly gotten so lucky as to have caught someone so perfect as Itachi Uchiha, but it didn't really matter in the end. Itachi was in his bed and that was all that counted. Kakashi felt Itachi tense beneath him before he gave another hard thrust, pushing the raven over the edge into blissful ecstasy.

Itachi released his hold on the silver-haired man and fell back onto the bed, totally satisfied.

"Itachi," called the deep voice of Kakashi from above him. "Are you alright?"

The Uchiha slowly cracked his eyes to look at the man above him. He seemed genuinely concerned for him which made him chuckle a bit. "I'm fine," he smiled at him. "I might be a little sore tomorrow, and I'm really tired right now, but that was amazing!"

Kakashi couldn't help but kiss that beautiful face. Itachi's smile was infectious, and he rolled over to lay next to the younger man. He snaked his arm under Itachi's neck and pulled him so that he was cuddled up against Kakashi's side. Despite how right things felt, though, he could feel the tension in Itachi as if he had something to say but wouldn't spit it out.

"What is it?" asked Kakashi, hoping that it wasn't anything bad about his performance.

"It's nothing," he said as he twisted one of Kakashi's nipples in between his fingers. "I just noticed that you didn't cum, and I didn't want you to be unsatisfied with this whole experience or with me." A small blush crept up Itachi's face, and he couldn't bring himself to look at Kakashi for fear that he was being judged. _Please, don't think I'm an idiot._

Kakashi just chuckled and pulled Itachi into a hug. "I am satisfied with your company, Itachi. You shouldn't feel like my outward pleasure is any indication of whether or not I'm enjoying myself, especially if I'm with you." The raven-haired man frowned at Kakashi's muscular chest as if his question wasn't fully answered.

Kakashi glanced down with his two-toned eyes and saw the pensive look on his raven lover's pale face. "You know," he began, "I and every other person you have sex with shouldn't need to be asked whether or not they want to be pleasured. Chances are high that any kind of sensational feelings you can provide are totally welcome."

Itachi blushed profusely at the older man's comment, but he took that moment to let his hands wander a little farther than Kakashi's chest. First it was just to trace the lines of a well defined 6-pack, but the temptation to trace the downward path of a silver-colored happy trail was more than he could resist. He let his nimble fingers explore things at first. Kakashi grew harder as he continued exploring, and he soon found that stroking the length made Kakashi hum with pleasure. Itachi was delighted in his ability to make his partner produce pleasure noises that he decided to go for it and let his instincts take over.

Initially, he only stroked at different paces as he moved to straddle Kakashi's legs. He lightly kissed across the older captain's neck before planting his own searing kiss on Kakashi's mouth. He moaned into the kiss before Itachi pulled away and continued placing kisses over Kakashi's chest. Itachi opened his mouth to let his tongue wander. It traced its way around each of Kakashi's nipples before it moved up his neck so that Itachi could suck on his earlobe.

"You're so good at this!" he growled into Itachi's ear.

"Naturally, I have an excellent teacher," Itachi breathed before he had to tighten his grip on Kakashi to prevent him from moving. "Ah ah," he chided to Kakashi who wined at him but continued to stay still.

Itachi continued to kiss his way down Kakashi's body until he reached the hardened appendage that had held all of his right hand's attention. He gave it a quick kiss and felt it jump in his hand.

"Mmm, someone's excited," he chuckled and then he quickly took the hardened member into his mouth all the way to the hilt.

Kakashi groaned at just how wonderful it felt to be in Itachi's mouth. He was so good at what he did that Kakashi could just sit back and enjoy the ride until he heard the telltale click of the lube cap coming off. He looked up, slightly startled that Itachi might want to try topping on his first night of having sex ever, but he breathed a sigh as Itachi reached to start fingering himself. Kakashi took that moment to enjoy the view before him. It seemed to be a win for everybody until Itachi pulled away and sat right on Kakashi's hard length.

"Uunng," he groaned as Itachi began the slow, beautiful process of torturing him into cumming. _This was better than anything he could have done with anyone else, _he thought, but Kakashi's inching toward the edge silenced all of his mind from thinking of anything other than the man sitting above him.

Kakashi took the pale hips in each hand and thrusted upwards. Itachi had to brace himself on Kakashi's chest before he slowly raised himself to the point that only the tip of Kakashi's length was inside of him before he quickly sat back down again. Kakashi groaned and Itachi smirked, this fighting fire with fire thing was great. Kakashi then sat up so that he came face to face with the smirking raven.

"Tell me," he said as he grabbed the hair at the nape of Itachi's neck and pulled it back so that he could lick from his shoulder to his jaw without any problems. "Are you enjoying yourself?"

"Very much so," Itachi said as he allowed Kakashi to take over his own release. He figured that he would be able to practice such activities again, so he wasn't worried about not following through the first time. Once Kakashi had finished, they curled up together on Kakashi's bed for sleep. Itachi wondered idly if he would even have time to do something like this once he and Shisui started putting their plan in motion. _Would Kakashi lose interest if it took too long to work out the coup d'etat? What if I'm forced into exile or he dies on a mission and this never happens again, _Itachi fretted. Of course, they were all just thoughts, but Itachi drifted off thinking about them wrapped safely in the arms of his newly acquired lover.

* * *

The wonderful smell of bacon came wafting into the bedroom awakening Itachi from a comfortable night of rest. He stretched languidly across the bed before opening his eyes to the harsh light of day. It had been years since he had slept past the break of dawn, but that didn't matter to him at all. Instead, the dull ache across his lower body was almost enough to make him want to swear off sex forever. Almost.

He turned away from the window and found a glass of water and what he assumed to be pain killers on top of a note on the nightstand next to the bed. He put the small pills in his mouth and swallowed them quickly while he read the note.

**Good afternoon,**

**I hope you slept well last night. I left you breakfast, or lunch in this case, on a plate in the oven. I ran to the store for some eggs and should be back soon. Until then, make yourself at home!**

**~Kakashi**

Itachi slowly pulled himself out of bed. He was still stark naked as he had been when he had fallen asleep and decided that a shower was desperately in order. He poked his head out of the bedroom to be sure that Kakashi really wasn't in the apartment. Glancing around, he didn't see his clothes anywhere and wondered if the silver-haired captain had hid them from him for his own amusement. He sighed when he found that the coast was clear and made his way to where he knew the bathroom was for a nice hot shower.

Upon entering the bathroom, Itachi found a towel and another note attached to the mirror telling him that his clothes were currently in the wash. _Clever Kakashi, so very clever, _he thought to himself as he shut the door behind him. He turned on the water and let it heat up while he looked himself over in the bathroom mirror. Nothing seemed out of place to him, but it wouldn't have mattered anyway because his clothes did a fabulous job of hiding anything that might need to be hidden.

After his shower, he dried himself off and wrapped himself in a towel and marched his way out of the bathroom and into the kitchen.

He found Kakashi humming to himself over the stove as he made scrambled eggs.

"Are my clothes clean, yet?" asked a rather disgruntled raven.

Kakashi smiled to himself before turning to look at the partially naked Uchiha. Itachi was almost as white as the towel that hung low around his slender waist and he had left his hair down and wet so that it hung around his face. All in all, Kakashi thought that Itachi was beautiful no matter how he looked and this moment was no exception.

"You can have them back in about an hour. I can lend you something to wear if you'd like, but honestly I think you look wonderful in that," he said as he waggled his eyebrows at the younger man.

Itachi blushed at the compliment and sat himself at the kitchen table. If Kakashi said he didn't need clothes then he certainly wasn't going to wear them. Soon enough, a plate was set in front of him piled with bacon, eggs, and pancakes.

"I wasn't really sure what you like for breakfast because we've only ever spent mornings on missions together, so I hope you're okay with this." Itachi smiled to Kakashi and gratefully began eating.

He hadn't realized how hungry he was until the first bite hit the pit of his stomach. After that, he could barely contain himself from stuffing his face with everything he had on his plate. Eventually, he was satisfied and allowed Kakashi to take his plate from him.

"Thank you," said Itachi, and Kakashi smiled at him before starting on the dishes.

"You know, you snore," said Kakashi after they had been silent for some time.

Itachi buried his face in his hands in embarrassment. _We just started having sex. This should not be happening to me._ He peeked at Kakashi through his fingers, but the man was only smiling fondly at him.

"I'm sorry about that," he said feeling completely mortified. That was a very un-Uchiha-like thing to do and he knew it.

"Maa, maa. It's not like you did it on purpose," Kakashi said as he waved it off. "But I was wondering if you are still okay with everything that went on last night."

"What went on last night?" asked Itachi with a confused look on his face that momentarily horrified Kakashi into thinking that he didn't remember what they had done, but Itachi laughed and that eased Kakashi's mind greatly.

"Okay, well, good to know that you're okay enough to at least joke about it," said the silver-haired man, and he began washing the dishes.

"You know," said the Uchiha as he got up from his seat at the table, "I know that you would never be one to gossip about anything that involved you, but if you ever tell anyone about anything that we do together outside of our professional lives I will gut you from navel to throat faster than you will ever see coming. Understand?" Itachi had pulled his knife up to Kakashi's throat for emphasis as the older man had allowed him close enough that their breaths were mixing between them.

Kakashi swallowed, not quite expecting that turn of events but nodded all the same. Itachi had a reputation to uphold, and Kakashi certainly wasn't going to be the one to ruin it.

Itachi loosened his hold and took a half step away from Kakashi before he realized that his towel was slipping. Not wanting Kakashi to see, he stepped back in to kiss the silver-haired man to keep him distracted while he readjusted the only piece of cloth that sat between him and bare nakedness.

"It's been an hour," he said stepping back again. "Do you think I could get my clothes now?"

Kakashi nodded and headed out of the kitchen to fetch Itachi his clothes. Once Itachi was comfortably dressed he kissed Kakashi again before heading towards the door to gather his shoes and leave.

"Wait, where are you going?" asked Kakashi who seemed a little disappointed that Itachi felt the need to go.

"I have a clan meeting that will be starting in a few minutes. It wouldn't be very acceptable if the future Uchiha Clan Head wasn't present," Itachi smirked at the pout Kakashi gave before he opened the door to go. "I'll see ya around," he said before he threw a wink in Kakashi's direction and headed out the door. Kakashi watched him glide across the rooftops before he was out of sight.

* * *

**So, there's a lemon and I'm sorry if that doesn't meet the guidelines. Please, if you have a problem with it just tell me and I'll fix it. Otherwise tell me what you think!**

**On a different, slightly related note:  
What does everyone think about the Shippuden manga coming to an end in November? Think there will be another installment in the future? All I know is that I think there are too many open ends for it to end in the next 5 chapters, but that's just me! :)**

**Anyway, thanks for reading!  
IPG**


	9. Chapter 8

**So, finally this is here. Please, enjoy and let me know what you think!**

**IPG**

* * *

Chapter 8

Since telling the Hokage about the coup, Itachi and Shisui had been assigned the task of keeping an eye on the Uchiha clan as a mission which meant that they were homebound and had been for the past few months. Neither truly minded, but it was coming up with cover stories as to why they were sticking around for so long since they were both in ANBU that was becoming a problem. That and having to suffer through clan meetings where the running topic seemed to be all of the new and different ways the Uchiha could get back at Konoha for all the ways she wronged them. Frankly, Itachi was sick of it, and he knew that Shisui was, too.

For the hundredth time since sitting down in the dimly lit meeting space, Itachi found himself sighing internally and wondering what it would take to slip out and away from the blasphemy and madness that he and Shisui had to endure for the sake of the village and now, for the sake of a mission. _Hokage-sama is so lucky that our Will of Fire burns so bright._

After a collective decision to adjourn the meeting, the long-haired raven could finally breathe a sigh of relief knowing that he wouldn't have to sit through another gathering like this for at least two more weeks. He was starting to follow Shisui out the covered doorway when a deep voice behind him stopped him in his tracks.

"Itachi, I need to speak with you a moment," said Fugaku as he caught his eldest son's attention.

_Oh, great. What could this possibly be about, _thought Itachi as he glanced in Shisui's direction, but the man had already left. _Good. Better that he not get caught fraternizing with the 'enemy'._

"Yes, Father?" Itachi asked when he was sure that his best friend was nowhere in sight.

"Come with me to the office," he said though the way he had said it left no room for decline or argument.

Itachi snarled inwardly but obeyed since they were in the company of all the other Uchiha patriarchs and it wouldn't do to make a scene. Once they were at the headquarters, flashes of the night he and Shisui had looked into the files and discovered Fugaku breaking in came flooding back into his conscious, and no matter what he tried, he simply couldn't shut his mind up.

"Why couldn't you have been more talkative when you were actually needed?" Itachi grumbled aloud though he didn't truly notice until Fugaku glanced back at him in question of what he had just said. He simply tried to brush it off as nothing by looking about the streets aimlessly, but it was too late and Fugaku seemed intrigued at his perfect child's slip up.

When they were each inside of Fugaku's office and the door was closed tight, the older Uchiha of the pair cleared his throat to speak. "Itachi, for some time now the department has been looking into making you a member of the team so that you may get more of the necessary background experience for when you someday take over as Clan Head. Of course, you've been busy until recently so there hasn't really been a good chance for us to give you the news that we, at the department, want to give you a trial run in the force to see if you may be ready for such a responsibility. You're scheduled to work on the night shift tonight with a few of the younger Uchiha on the force, and I expect you to be here at dusk to get started. Understand?"

Itachi's mind was running all over the place now. _Father wants me to test myself in the department? Shisui never had to do anything of this sort. In fact, I've never known of anyone on the force to have been given a test before acceptance. What could be his aim here? He isn't even giving me a choice in this matter just like all of the other times before ANBU. Damn._ He decided to nod his ascent since that seemed to be the only option he had, though his extreme disappointment weighed heavily within the crowded recesses of his mind.

Fugaku seemed to accept his nod and continued. "I'm sure you'll do me proud," Fugaku said as he absently drummed his fingers over the mystery file that Itachi had discovered was his own.

Itachi wondered why the file was still being examined since it had been well over a year since he had broken into the office to discover its contents, but he was left wondering as his father decided to dismiss him in favor of whatever work the man decided to complete.

* * *

Running off to find Shisui, which was all he ever felt like he did these days, was no chore at all. He was in their training field in meditation and still seemed unphased whenever Itachi dropped in suddenly.

"What did Fugaku want?" Shisui asked before Itachi could even make it ten yards from him. Clearly, he had been waiting some time to ask that of him.

"He's sending me on a trial run in the Konoha Police Force tonight with a few other men that are probably only a few years older than us. He didn't give me specifics or I would be asking you about the men, but it struck me as odd. I've never heard of Uchiha being put through tests to join the department, especially since it's me we're talking about, and he still had my file on his desk as if he was still collecting information on me."

"Hmm, that is odd. Do you wanna break into the office again after you complete your test run? Maybe the file has some new insight into our own mission, something we might be missing from our side that will be crucial in our victory. After all, I haven't been called off of tailing and gathering information on you, yet. Perhaps it's best that I tag along in the shadows tonight as well," Shisui rambled as he was basically thinking aloud and allowing Itachi to pick and choose the things he found acceptable in how to go about their next plan of attack.

"Well, since it's out, I would like to look at the file again, but I believe that we should wait a few days before breaking in to look at it since this test will probably be causing the department a lot of extra work that we don't wanna get involved in. I don't care whether you tag along or not since I'm sure it'll be relatively mundane either way, but you were set to keep tabs on me, so they couldn't complain if they caught you watching from the sidelines," Itachi mused as his eyes strayed to the sky in thought. _I wonder if they might have planned for something to happen tonight just to see how I react._

Since his eyes were already on the sky, it didn't take long for Itachi to notice that it was getting dark which meant that it was about time for him to wander back into town to meet his team for the night. Deciding that it was safest for Shisui to wait a few minutes before following, Itachi made his way through the forest alone to meet the men that would either make or break his career.

* * *

"Hey, Itachi, right? We're your trial team for the evening. I'm Shiro and this is Ichiro," said Shiro when Itachi made it to the department just as the sky was getting really dark.

Itachi nodded to the pair as he recognized them from around the complex, though he was unsure of exactly how he was related to them despite the fact that they shared the same last name. _Maybe we're cousins or something? _"Pleasure. You both know my name, of course. What are we going to be doing this evening?" Itachi asked out of mild curiosity.

"Oh, it's basic patrol work. Nothing horrible. We just wanna see how you get along in police business, so it shouldn't be a bad night at all. Knock on wood though, right?" Shiro said as he nudged the quieter Ichiro in the ribs getting him to shoot off dirty looks. In all honesty, Itachi would have been equally as annoyed by the jab as Ichiro seemed to be, but he opted to stay quiet in favor of observing his situation and surroundings.

They decided to head off in the direction of the compound gate and work their way through the neighborhoods and then back towards the businesses near the end of their shift. Itachi was feeling exceptionally bored of the whole thing and honestly wished that he could throw the entire evening so that he would never end up having to do it again, but he couldn't ruin his own image or disappoint his father no matter how much of an ass the man was. He had been forced to listen to Shiro's ridiculous stories about being at the academy and then his entrance into the Konoha Police Force. How ninja work was "hard" and how Shiro was just so glad to be done with anything to do with being a shinobi of the village. Itachi wanted to strangle him.

_Of course, ninja work is hard, you idiot! That's why it's so wonderful, but you wouldn't know that because you clearly have no fucking clue about doing great things with your life or for Konoha! _Itachi internally screamed. He had caught Shisui a few times in the shadows and knew that he must be enjoying watching him stroll around the Uchiha District doing absolutely nothing with someone that spoke so much that his ears were on the verge of bleeding. He had to wonder if this man was even an Uchiha at all with how open and fun his personality was.

Then there was Ichiro who was just as quiet as Itachi only it verged on the edge of creepy which made Itachi think that there was something else in the man's private life that bordered on the edge of absolutely cringe worthy. All in all, Itachi had to wonder what Fugaku was thinking when he decided that these men would be his partners for the test run.

It was in that moment that a loud crash and a bunch of chatter broke out down the street in front of them. The three men turned and Itachi noticed that they were on the same pub street that he had been on when he saw the police officers arrest the chair throwing bar goers. It was the same bar even. _Odd, _Itachi thought as they made their way to the scene to make sure that everyone was alright.

At the bar, they found a waitress standing stock still over a bunch of broken glasses and spilled beer littering the floor as if she had dropped it, though she wasn't making a move to pick any of it up.

"What seems to be the problem here?" asked Shiro acting all serious and turning on his "cop mode".

Itachi glanced around and all of the customers seemed to be ducking their heads trying not to be caught in his gaze.

"Oh, officers, I'm so glad you're here. Those men right there were causing a scene and knocked the tray right out of my hand after I hit one of them for touching me," the waitress said as she pointed at the only group of non-Uchiha in the bar and proceeded to lay on the damsel in distress act as thick as she possibly could.

_Well, there's one less person I'd be interested in sleeping with, _thought Itachi as he barely restrained an eye roll. People that couldn't handle their own problems were an automatic turn off in his opinion, but he did find it interesting that the only non-Uchiha in the bar seemed to be the targets in this instance. _Very interesting._

Looking at Ichiro, Itachi saw the slightest smirk appear and then fade on the man's face and knew that he most likely wasn't going to like what was coming next. He now wished that the night had remained uneventful since he knew that he would be unable to stop himself if the need to protect the citizens arose. He watched Shiro stroll cockily towards their table and asked a bunch of casual questions about their side of the story and all that but their involvement was denied vehemently.

"I swear, Officer, we didn't do anything. We were sitting here chatting and minding our own business when she dropped the tray on her own. We didn't touch her, you can ask anyone here," said one of the men who seemed shocked that they were being blamed for something that they clearly had no involvement in. At least, Itachi could see that the man was telling the truth, Shiro seemed to be getting more wound up as the man continued talking.

Meanwhile, Itachi watched as Ichiro walked around from table to table asking the other customers what they had seen happen. He listened carefully to hear Ichiro ask if the men were actually involved and many of the answers came back in the negative. Ichiro turned with a wicked glint in his eye before walking back to his partner to whisper something in his ear before they each glanced in Itachi's direction and waved him over to talk to them.

"What do you need?" asked Itachi who was becoming increasingly more annoyed with each passing moment that they were in the bar. They were done here and the bar just happened to have hired the clumsiest waitress in the village. _Case closed, let's move on._

"So, all of the customers here saw that these men did actually cause this whole mess, Itachi. Seems that they thought that they could get away with it by lying to a police officer. Crazy, right?" Shiro said, and Itachi swore that Ichiro sniggered when he pretended to cough into his hand.

"Hmm, I'm not so sure this is that big of a deal," Itachi said as Shiro turned to confront the group of men again. He was, of course, ignored, and he silently wished that he could just knock the stupidity out of every one of them and then vanish into the night like some savior to Konoha. Unfortunately, Itachi's life was never as easy as he wished it would be, and he knew that he would truly be tested on this ridiculous night of "police work".

* * *

Shisui was many things in the face of adversity. Calculating, patient, deadly, all things that could describe his personality as a shinobi in Konoha. Unfortunately, the patience within him was shot as soon as he realized that things within the bar that he was monitoring were quickly heading south and he had no way of helping the people within lest he blow his own cover. It was times like these that he truly hated his job.

Of course, he knew that Itachi was completely capable of handling himself, but the need to assist one's friends in precarious situations is something that most humans have a hard time leaving alone. Bitterly, he wondered why he had even allowed Itachi to talk him into working for the corrupted Konoha Police. Clearly, something was wrong with their brain functions if the thought of destroying the lives of innocent villagers excited them, but Shisui was now forced to sit painfully and watch things play out before him. He wasn't going to leave his best friend without any back up and he most certainly wasn't going to relax until this night was over. Yep, sometimes, Shisui hated his job.

* * *

Meanwhile, Itachi was busily trying to formulate some sort of situation that allowed him to get the wrongfully accused men out of the area and away from Shiro and Ichiro who seemed hell bent on taking them down despite their obvious lack of involvement. He was sure that Shisui was having just as hard a time watching this as he was in living it, but he was glad that his friend was staying out of things currently. It would have just been more difficult to focus otherwise.

"So, we're going to need you to come with us to the station. You can do this the easy way, or it can be done the hard way. The choice is yours," Shiro said as the man beside him flashed an evil grin causing many of the men at the table to pale at the uncomfortable expression. One of the bolder of the men took his beer and tossed the contents at the two policemen, drenching them in the hoppy liquid which caught both men by surprise before Itachi heard them each growl in response. _This wasn't good._

He moved to stand behind his corrupted police partners to truly get a glimpse of the angered and worried faces of the men who were being asked to come with them to headquarters for the night, and Itachi couldn't even put into words the immense amount of disappointment he felt towards the Uchiha in that moment. He placed his hand on Shiro's shoulder to get his attention before he punched him square in the jaw. Unable to react in time, Ichiro was also laid out on the floor but seemed to have a much quicker reaction time because he was up and attacking Itachi with everything that his very inexperienced body had to fight with.

Itachi's reflexes were faster, though, and he managed to deflect two consecutive jabs towards his face and side before quickly aiming another solid punch that felt like it had dislocated Ichiro's jaw which pushed him far enough away for Itachi to use his swinging momentum to throw his leg around in a kick that met and broke at least two of the man's ribs on his left side.

By this point, Shiro had regained his composure and had attempted to throw Itachi off by jumping on his back causing Itachi to stumble backward with the added weight so that they both ended up falling making Shiro take the brunt of the impact. He had a surprisingly strong grip, however, and managed to keep his arms tightly locked around Itachi's neck in a stranglehold. Itachi's free arm swung back so that his fist connected firmly with the man's nose causing a blinding white pain to shoot across his face which caused his grip on Itachi to loosen just enough for him to slip away and stand swiftly so that he could kick Shiro in his side with enough force to have at least bruised a few organs before quickly incapacitating him to the very shocked faces of the onlookers within the bar.

It was in that moment that Shisui came in and quickly placed every single bargoer under a genjutsu before facing Itachi accusingly.

"What happened to handling things without making every Uchiha in the world hate you?" Shisui asked as he checked the vital signs of the two policemen, though he knew that Itachi would never have killed them. "We're trying to be discreet here."

"I know, Shi, I'm sorry. I couldn't let them just arrest these people for something that they didn't do though. You know that," he said as he hung his head before glancing around at the frozen faces around him. _Perhaps that was a bit too much._

Thankfully, Shisui did understand. He had been watching things play out until now and probably would have done the same as Itachi had their roles been reversed; however, that didn't change the fact that they now needed to fix things before the shift was over or else they would have more on their plate than they really knew what to do with.

Shisui moved toward the accused men first and brought them out of their genjutsu. "I want you all to leave this bar and never return to the Uchiha District until things here settle down. It is unsafe and our job as Shinobi of the village is to protect Konoha and all of her inhabitants. You can trust us in this," he said as the men before him seemed slightly dazed and confused but complied with his demands all the same. Once they were gone, Shisui moved to the unconscious men that were bleeding and broken on the floor before forcefully yanking one of them up over his shoulder and turning to Itachi who wasn't doing the same.

"They're going to need medical treatment," Shisui said as he sighed at Itachi's foolishness. Stupidity had always made it difficult for Itachi to control himself, and now, he was certainly going to feel some of the backlash for his actions. Itachi nodded, but Shisui's eyes were clouded in disappointment when they connected with his. It made Itachi feel like a kicked dog to see him direct that emotion his way.

Without wasting more time, Itachi pulled the unconscious Shiro from Shisui's shoulder letting the man fall back to the floor before touching his shoulder and pulling them out of the genjutsu he had cast over the bar's occupants as soon as he had known that there wasn't going to be a peaceful way to get the non-Uchiha men out of there. Shisui seemed to be slightly perplexed before the realization that it was all just an illusion dawned on him.

He glanced around and found all of the bar still frozen in a dreamy state of the casual night out they were having until the waitress had dropped her tray. Itachi moved and directed the table of men that were under fire to leave and never return, which was something that they did without hesitation once they were finished with Itachi's illusion. Ichiro and Shiro were both unharmed, though their egos would most certainly be wounded when they stepped back into reality, and they would probably have nightmares about Itachi for weeks after that night.

Before awakening everyone else, Itachi gave each of them the impression that nothing had even happened at the bar so the police had never even had a need to stop by. Itachi and Shisui carried the policemen a distance down the street before dropping them like ragdolls against a wall and releasing the genjutsu hold on the bar.

"What do you think we should do with them?" asked Shisui as he stood in the darkened alley staring at the two men that had caused them so much trouble that night.

"I think we should lightly suggest that nothing went on and that my services aren't needed within the Konoha Police. I'm almost entirely sure that I wouldn't be able to handle that shit every night I had to go out patrolling," Itachi said as he turned his attention to his friend's dark clad figure.

"Yeah, I almost wish that I hadn't seen that," said Shisui as he lightly kicked at Ichiro's shoe. "If you give them the go ahead to cut you out, though, won't that mean that they'll close your file? It'll be harder to get to if they get it into the filing cabinet."

"Yeah, I know, but I think we'll just have to risk it. I can't stand police work anyway, so it's better this way despite Fugaku's disappointment." _Plus, I'll be able to keep my distance from the Uchiha and allow you to better do your job there, _though Itachi as he glanced around at the darkened buildings around them.

"Well, do you wanna take them to Headquarters and undo the genjutsu there? I'm sure that no one would notice us since it's already almost four o'clock in the morning," Shisui said and he plucked one of the policemen off the ground again as if he really was just throwing around a sack of potatoes.

Itachi nodded and they moved to return the men to a place that wouldn't seem suspicious and that would be easy enough to break the genjutsu and leave them to go on their merry ways. It would be a win-win for all involved.

* * *

After four days of avoiding the police station and Fugaku's disappointment, Itachi finally decided that it was about time to check on the secret file one last time before focusing all of his attention on perfecting his genjutsu world and figuring out what Danzo would be speaking to Shisui about since he had received the summons to meet only two days from now.

He didn't really need Shisui to come with him when he broke into the Police Chief's office for the second time in his life, but their friendship knew no bounds, and he couldn't have gotten Shisui to stay behind if he had tried. _It is a shame that Sasuke isn't old enough to be that kind of brother, yet._

As it was before, Headquarters was really easy to break into. Somehow, he wondered why they wouldn't put more security around a building that housed a few of the legal documents and arrest records from around the city, but he knew as soon as he stepped into the role of Clan Head, he would rectify that as soon as he was allowed.

Itachi allowed Shisui to break the seals on the filing cabinet to retrieve the file since they hadn't been able to find it in the piles on the desk and simply assumed Fugaku had stored it away. Of course, Shisui couldn't help but check on his own file while they were there, and he started scanning through it as soon as Itachi was handed his own.

Flipping through the first few papers, everything seemed just as he had seen it last time. There were all the records, yearly photos, and nothing seemed to be any different. He came to the letter of the Official Konoha Police Records, and the state of the paper was what caught his attention first. The letter had been torn several times and taped back together as if someone had been so angry with it that they couldn't refrain from turning it into makeshift confetti. After it had been pieced back together, a large red stamp was placed over the body of the letter that read TERMINATED, and Itachi knew that it was probably his father's doing seeing as he had been nothing but furious with him after his night of failed testing.

He flipped the page to find a new letter behind it. This one was clean and seemed to speak about the night of the bar incident through the eyes of his partners, Shiro and Ichiro. _This ought to be good, _he thought and he read on.

**Shiro Uchiha and Ichiro Uchiha partnered with one Itachi Uchiha on a trial night patrol of the Uchiha District to see if Itachi was ready to join the Uchiha Police Force to help defend the clan against those Konoha citizens that seek to ruin and destroy the pureness of the greatest clan to ever exist within the borders of Fire Country. This is their account on what happened that night and why Itachi Uchiha is not being asked to join our forces-**

"Itachi, what are you reading?" Shisui asked as he ripped the paper from Itachi's hand and started reading it himself. "_Uchiha Police Force, _What the hell are these people on? How are we even related to them?" he snorted as he handed the paper back to his friend whose lips were pressed into a thin, worried line.

"I know, but this just proves how ridiculously serious they are about this secret police club that they have built and are going to use in the coup. You know the citizens aren't going to stand a chance when things start heading further South than they already are," Itachi said as he tucked the paper back into the file and continued flipping his way through the rest of the documents collected there.

"Well, I found out that I'm going to be promoted soon. Who knows what that promotion will entail, but I believe that that on top of my meeting with Danzo is no coincidence. Do you think he's been watching us?" Shisui asked in reference to Danzo.

"Of course he's been watching us, Shi. He's hell bent on destroying our clan through us. He'll need to be sure that his _investments_ are doing exactly what he needs them to be doing in order to ensure his plan's success."

Shisui fidgeted uncomfortably before looking down at his own file and closing it. Itachi did the same as he really only discovered more evidence of his father's disappointment in his, now, imperfect son. _Home life should be better than this, _he thought, and then started putting the room back the way they had found it.

* * *

Each man vanished into the night, leaving no trace of themselves in the building besides the not-so-secret files locked away in the Police Chief's office. When they were most certainly gone, a swirling vortex appeared in the center of the room revealing one sharingan-wielding masked man. He moved about the office casually before the doorknob wiggled and Fugaku Uchiha stepped into the room wearing all black as if he were on an undercover mission.

The masked man thought the Clan Head looked absolutely ridiculous, but he could only revel in how much he truly enjoyed having control over people that he could call upon at will. His game was the most fun game to play.

"Uchiha-san, it's been some time since we last saw each other," he said as he found the perfect place next to the window to stand. "How are things going with the coup d'etat?"

"Things are going exactly as we need them to go. There was only one little glitch with my son, but otherwise, things are on track," said Fugaku as he moved around his desk to sit down. He motioned for the mysterious man to join him, but he was declined as per usual when dealing with this man.

"Ah, difficulty with your son? What task could he not fulfill for you? Perhaps appointing someone else for the job?" said the man as he moved to stand behind the empty chair across from the Uchiha. He was glad to be wearing a mask so that Fugaku couldn't see the wicked grin across his face.

"Utter disappointment, really. I intended for him to come in and assist me in spying on the Hokage and all of the village operations, but he failed me, and I now have to go with the second best option in this case. It will all go accordingly no matter who's in that position though," said Fugaku as he stroked his smooth chin in thought.

"Who are you going to appoint to replace him?" he asked out of curiosity in who would become a new little game piece for him to do with as he pleased.

"Shisui Uchiha. He just passed my son in skill and willingness to follow orders, which means that he is now the best man for the job and won't disappoint any of us," said Fugaku bitterly. He had long since given up on trying to gage what the masked man thought about anything that he told him. He figured that as long as it was the best option then the man shouldn't have anything to complain about.

"Very interesting," said the masked man before standing straight again. "Have you promoted the young Uchiha, yet?"

"No, I had intended to do so tomorrow afternoon," said the Uchiha as he leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest. He was beginning to feel the lateness of the hour and had to stifle a yawn when it threatened to escape.

"So very interesting," said the man one last time before he disappeared in another vortex. _So many interesting things I've learned on this dark night in Konoha._

* * *

The next day, Shisui was called into the Police Chief's office to discuss his promotion and all that it entailed. Afterwards, Shisui ran through the forest to find Itachi meditating on one of the larger rocks in the river beneath their waterfall.

"I found out about my promotion that I was telling you about in the office last night," Shisui said as he found his own rock to sit on.

"Hmm, good news I hope?" Itachi asked not wanting to open his eyes.

"I'm afraid not. Fugaku wants me to start gathering information on the Hokage's activity and whereabouts throughout this month. He did tell me that I no longer had to trail you, though so, that's good."

"That bit of good news pales in comparison to the news that you now have to gather information on the leader of Konoha. Do you think that we should tell the Hokage, or do you think that we should just make up information as we go along and pretend that's what the Hokage is doing?" asked Shisui as he glanced around the forest for any foreign chakra signatures or unnatural movements within the shadows of the forest around them just to be sure that their conversation was being kept private.

"I believe that it would be alright if you made up things for the Hokage to do throughout his day. There is no need to add more to this whole Uchiha mess for him, and he stays within his office in the Hokage Tower almost all hours of the day anyway, so making that up won't be difficult at all. Maybe you could even throw in some random 'Hokage problems' that involve other villages or something," Itachi said as he glanced about the forest as well before turning his attention back to Shisui.

"Yeah, you're right. No need to go off and worry the Hokage with more of the issues that we are in the midst of solving. I wonder what Danzo will have to say to me tomorrow when we meet. Clearly, this meeting time is no coincidence in its alignment with my promotion," Shisui said and he sighed in exasperation at all the shit that seemed to continue to pile onto their plates. He really didn't want to handle more.

"That will be an interesting meeting indeed."

* * *

Within the underground tunnels of Konoha where the ROOT agency made itself at home as the dark underbelly of a proud and bustling city stood one dark man leaning against his cane in his left hand.

"Danzo-sama," spoke one of the many ROOT agents that were made to mimic the ANBU agents of the lightened city above. It was a form of disguise so that they would fool Hiruzen into thinking that they were simply ANBU that were under his control when in reality they were far from it.

"Yes, what is it?" Danzo asked in the slow, calculating manner that was all his own.

"I've returned with the information that you sent me to retrieve. Today, Shisui Uchiha was promoted as we had expected. He's meant to go out and spy on the Hokage and the village workings. He has been deemed a serious threat to Konoha," said the masked ROOT agent that was kneeling down with his head bowed to the floor in utmost respect towards his agency's founder and leader of them all.

"Hmm, just as we had suspected. Excellent work, you are dismissed," said Danzo, but the masked lackey didn't move like he had been told. "What is it?"

"Sir, would you like us to neutralize the threat?" asked the masked man who wasn't moving an inch of muscle despite the growing anger radiating from his master at being disobeyed.

"No, we will take care of that in due time," came Danzo's clipped answer which caused the man to bow even deeper. "Besides, I'm pretty certain that we have a meeting with him tomorrow. All is going accordingly, for now." The man nodded slightly before disappearing as was requested of him. If Danzo said that things were to be left as they were, who was he to do otherwise?

* * *

**Well, I was left to wonder if I should end things here or if I should continue on with what will happen with the meeting between Danzo and Shisui, but I decided to wait since I'm sure you can all guess what that meeting is going to be about anyway. Also, I'm not so sure that the next chapter will come as soon as these last few chapters have been updated because I'm going to Japan at the end of the month and I still have to figure my life out... Yeah, packing is no bueno.**

**Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it and you tell me what you think!**

**Thanks for reading!  
IPG**


	10. Chapter 9

**So, this was already half written so it didn't take as much time for me to work on and publish! Yay!**

**Please Enjoy, or not. It's really up to you here. But I assume if you have gotten this far in the story, you at least like it a little bit? Maybe...**

**IPG**

* * *

Chapter 9

Deep within the forest as the sun was beginning to rise to signal the dawn of a new day, two young men stood on the edge of a clearing. Though it was still quite dark outside, the time of day meant nothing to the two young men who stood close discussing their plans for the new day.

"Are you sure we're ready for that just yet? We could wait for a week, or a month even," said Shisui as he looked hopefully to the other young man standing in the clearing.

Itachi shook his head slightly before opening his mouth. "We don't have anymore time to wait now, Shi. It's time that we jump start this entire thing so that we can be ready when all Hell breaks loose."

Shisui rubbed the hair on the back of his head before glancing off into the trees. "Are you really sure though. Once the genjutsu is cast we can't come back from that. Everything will move forward and we have to keep ahead of it the whole way."

"We're ready. Don't worry so much," Itachi said as he put a hand on Shisui's shoulder in comfort. They really would be just fine.

"Well, if you're sure then, I suppose it's now or never," he said and then he vanished in a shunshin leaving nothing but a swirl of leaves to keep Itachi company.

Quicker than he could blink, the man with the black cloak and the swirled mask appeared before Itachi in the forest clearing. _Hmm, that was faster than I anticipated, _Itachi thought, but he let that vanish in his mind. He had more important things to focus on now, and he stepped into the forest clearing as well to greet the man that he had called there.

"Why did you call, Itachi Uchiha?" asked the deep voice from across the open area though it seemed a bit more irritated than the last time they had spoken. _I must have interrupted something._

"I actually called on you to help me with something that I know I will not be able to accomplish on my own. You see, the village elders have a plan in place that is a sort of failsafe for whatever the outcome of the other plans ends up being," Itachi said as he tried to exude nothing but calmness around such a mysterious man. Itachi sure wouldn't trust him as far as he could throw him at this point in the game. He was also sure that the feeling was mutual.

"You wouldn't happen to be referring to the failsafe plan installed by Danzo that requires you to assassinate the entirety of the Uchiha clan, would you?" asked the man as if he had seen this meeting coming and relaxed slightly in his stance.

"That would be the failsafe I request your assistance with," Itachi nodded not at all surprised that the man had heard of it. "Will you help me kill the Uchiha when the time comes?"

It was in that moment that a rustling within the forest could be heard by both men who each turned their attention towards it. Itachi knew that it was Shisui by the flash of the Sharingan red in their direction, and he only hoped that the masked man was completely clueless or their plan wasn't going to work.

When the masked man finally did register that it was another person, he began his vortex vanishing act but not before Itachi caught one simple word whispered on the wind before he disappeared completely.

"Yes."

* * *

"Itachi, who was that?" asked Shisui as he appeared in the clearing.

"It was exactly who we needed it to be," Itachi said as he gave Shisui's shoulder a pat to tell him to turn off his sharingan. The masked man was gone and wouldn't be returning anytime soon.

"Hmm," Shisui shrugged as he let his eyes go back to their normal dark color. They weren't going to be very useful for the rest of the morning anyway, so he figured it wasn't a bad idea to let them rest. "So, what do we do now?"

"We continue with the rest of the plan," said the long-haired raven as he continued to walk through the forest at his own leisurely pace followed closely by his best friend. "Everything will fall into place soon enough, and when that happens, we will be ready to handle it."

"Do you think we should start working on that as soon as possible? Like, right now?" he asked before jumping into one of the trees fully expecting Itachi to follow him.

"No, today we will rest and begin our work later on in the evening or tonight after you finish with your meeting with Danzo. You haven't forgotten about that have you?" Itachi asked as he started running through the treetops after jumping ahead of Shisui.

"Ha, yeah. How could I ever forget something like that? It's like you don't know me at all," Shisui said feigning hurt as they hopped from branch to branch in the forest.

Itachi chose to ignore Shisui's teasing in favor of focusing on the next step in their plan. _We could certainly afford some rest, _he thought, _We should be needing it soon enough._

* * *

Shisui couldn't figure out why he felt nervous as he walked through the large arched gateway into Danzo's property, but he knew that he couldn't let his guard down for a moment lest something terrible happen that he knew he could have prevented. Plus, Danzo gave him the creeps, so he didn't feel so bad about his strong lack of trust in the elder councilman.

As he approached the building, he could see Danzo's bandaged figure leaning against his cane on the porch surrounded by several dark-clad figures that had ANBU masks on, though Shisui knew for certain that none of them actually were a part of the noble assassin's club. These figures were much too dark for that. They also put him even more on edge than when he had first walked onto the gated grounds which made him really have to force his feet to continue moving forward.

Danzo had a devious, eerie grin on his scarred face as Shisui stepped forward before he stopped right in front of him without bowing. The man hadn't done anything to earn such respect from the young Uchiha, yet.

"Ah, Shisui Uchiha, it has been some time since our last meeting," said the bandaged man with his raspy voice and painfully slow speaking habits. Despite his village status, Shisui just wanted to shake him into spitting the words out faster because no one had all day to listen to that.

"It's been a while I suppose," Shisui said keeping things vague intentionally. No need to let the man really know what he was thinking after all. He didn't trust him.

"Yes, well, mind if we meet out here? It's nice out, and I rather enjoy these early days of Summer," Danzo said and Shisui nodded his approval to the man, though neither of them made a move to sit down and make themselves more comfortable. Apparently, Danzo didn't intend for things to be amicable between them. "Good, well, I'm sure that you have been told by Itachi, but let me be clear, your Kotoamatsukami is not going to work in this coup, so you won't really be needed when the plans start to play out. No matter what you do, things won't be going your way and that is just fine because I have other plans that will play out perfectly."

Before Shisui could protest, Danzo had gestured to a couple of his men to start attacking the Uchiha. Shisui had been ready, of course, and was easily able to dodge and counter their attacks. Unfortunately, Danzo kept throwing more men at him until he was grabbed and held to glare at Danzo for trying to trick him and Itachi.

"You see, young Uchiha, the best way for me to go about my plan is to get rid of the Uchiha as they are truly an unpredictable threat that need to be eliminated lest they end up starting something like this in the future. Itachi Uchiha is clearly my best option in this case since he seems to have someone on his side in this, but you are a very disposable creature in this game," he said and he started stepping closer to Shisui with his hand raised to the level of Shisui's face. "Because these eyes of yours are so much better than the ones that I have, I think it's time that mine be replaced, don't you?"

Before Danzo even had the chance to touch Shisui, the Uchiha twisted in the grips of the two men that were holding him and swept the feet out from underneath them both and then jumped away after he escaped their loosened grips on his arms. He, then, decided to attack Danzo as the man seemed to have been taken by surprise and plunged a kunai into his heart.

As if in a deja vu, Danzo was suddenly behind the young Uchiha and kicked him hard in between his shoulder blades causing Shisui to stumble forward and land on the wooden porch. "How the fuck did you get behind me? I just killed you!" Shisui said as he quickly rolled away from the barrage of kunai that landed exactly where he had been only moments before. Danzo smirked and Shisui noticed that he had managed to remove the bandages over his right eye and then he pulled up the sleeve of his once bandaged arm. It was covered in Sharingan eyes though one was now blinded and closing, and Shisui had to forcefully prevent himself from vomiting all over the ground with how disgusting the arm looked. It was completely inhuman and _wrong!_

"That has to be the grossest thing I have ever seen in my whole life," Shisui said as he gagged once before quickly picking up a few of the kunai embedded in the porch and throwing them in Danzo's direction before jumping in with his real attack and slashing a few of Danzo's fingers off of his hand. Again, the deja vu feeling kicked in and he was faced with Danzo very much uninjured and on a completely different side of Shisui than the one he had just been injured on.

It took three more moments of feeling like time was repeating itself before Shisui had had enough of all of it.

"Stop it!" Shisui said, but he knew in his heart that he was very unequipped to deal with the situation he was in without ending up injured or dead himself, so he quickly created a distraction with a barrage of shuriken before shunshinning away from the area and running off to gather way more weapons and find Itachi.

* * *

"Itachi!" Shisui said as he landed in Itachi's room in the Uchiha Mansion. "I need a plan. A fool proof, I can't be killed by another Sharingan kind of plan."

"Danzo's meeting wasn't so great, eh?" Itachi asked as he turned to face his relatively frazzled best friend.

"He's a freak, Itachi. You know his bandaged arm is actually covered in Sharingan eyes? I saw at least five, plus the one in place of his right eye, and I have no clue how he got them all, but he just tried to take mine, no doubt with the intent to kill me afterwards," Shisui said as he started pacing the floors, not caring that Itachi was watching him as his Uchiha slipped. "I'm going back there to kill him, now. I just need to know that you won't try to stop me."

"By all means, please. I just hope you know what you are getting into now that you intend to do this. Things are only going to speed up after this death you know. Perhaps even faster than what we had intended with the meeting this morning," Itachi said as he leaned against the wall next to his bed.

"Yeah, I know. It's another reason why I came to tell you before I went off to actually kill him. Trying to take my eyes, the nerve!"

"Well, I wish you luck. I'll be in the forest setting traps around the clearing when you're done," said Itachi and Shisui vanished just as quickly as he had arrived.

_Sharingan in his arm?_ The thought alone made the long-haired raven squirm in discomfort and disgust.

* * *

Itachi heard the soft landing of feet as they hit the dried leaves on the ground behind him after a few hours of Shisui being gone. He was setting a trap and couldn't be bothered to turn around in greeting of his friend.

"Did you kill him?" asked the long-haired raven as he cut another piece of ninja wire with a kunai.

"Itachi," said Shisui as he collapsed to his knees in the forest. He watched his best friend turn from what he was doing and then rush to his side.

"What happened?" asked a very concerned Uchiha as he knelt beside a wounded and exhausted Shisui. "Did the ROOT agents do this to you?"

"They caught on to me before I could escape," coughed the sixteen year old as he took a moment to rest by closing his eyes and leaning into the other raven. "We need to go,"

Without any further prompting, Itachi pulled an almost unconscious Shisui onto his back and jumped into the trees just as a slew of kunai planted themselves into the ground they had just been standing on. Itachi quickly created a barrage of fire-flowers that he spat at the incoming ROOT operatives which provided the perfect cover for Shisui to make a pair of matching shadow clones to throw off their trail in his last moments of consciousness.

Itachi threw a silent thank you to Shisui in his comatose state as the ROOT operatives had no choice but to split off in pursuit of both pairs of fleeing Uchiha. Knowing the only way to throw ROOT off completely, Itachi quickly headed toward the river in the forest that had become such a wonderful meeting place for he and Shisui over the years. They hit the river's edge and Itachi didn't hesitate in his run towards the base of the waterfall. He threw out another massive fireball jutsu that created a thick steam cover for them as he disappeared behind the waterfall and into the hidden cave beyond that he and Shisui had discovered long ago in their childhood.

Itachi gently set Shisui against the wall of the cave before turning to defend them in the instance that they were followed, but the chakra signatures were moving away from the river and back into the forest. He took a relieved breath before walking over and kneeling down in front of his sleeping friend. Itachi brushed the hair stuck to Shisui's brow away to examine just how bad his friend had fared in his encounter with ROOT.

The still-conscious Uchiha wondered silently if Shisui had succeeded in his task to eliminate Danzo and all of his negative thoughts that were polluting the opinions of the elders and the Hokage, but he could wait to find out. Shisui was clearly in bad shape with his five broken ribs, broken left arm, broken fingers, punctures bleeding all over and needed some sort of serious medical attention. Knowing that there was only one person that would be able to help Shisui at this point, Itachi quickly summoned a crow to send a message to Kakashi.

"Please, find Kakashi and tell him to come to me here but that he should be very discreet in his approach since we are being hunted," he said to the crow as it quickly left the cave to do Itachi's bidding. Itachi was soon alerted to Kakashi's familiar chakra presence on the other side of the waterfall as the man stepped into the cave.

"What seems to b-" said Kakashi as he stopped in his tracks at the sight of an unconscious Shisui and a worried Itachi kneeling in front of him.

"He had an encounter with ROOT while he was on a mission to confront Danzo. He went out as soon as we started running from them in the forest," said Itachi as he slowly turned to look at the silver-haired man who was the only other person to know about this cave besides himself and Shisui.

Kakashi knelt beside Itachi to look over the damages done to the young Shisui. "You called me to heal him some, huh?" asked Kakashi as he put his hand on the side of the unconscious man's face.

"Yes, actually," said Itachi as he tried to will Kakashi into hurrying his work while still being patient. "You were the only person I could trust to do this that wouldn't involve me moving him and alerting the ROOT agents to our position. I know your medical ninjutsu skills aren't extraordinary, but for now, I figured that you would be able to at least make it so that he is comfortable and able to move about without being fully healed."

"I'm so flattered that you asked for my assistance," said the older man as his hands started glowing green and he began running them over the unconscious Uchiha's body. "So, while I'm doing this would you mind filling me in on what's going on with you two and the elders that has caused ROOT to do this and come after you?"

Itachi sighed and sat back on the hard ground of the cave. He ran a hand over his face in thought as to what he should tell Kakashi that wouldn't give away too many things, but would also satisfy him in regards to the information about the plan.

"I guess there's no helping it then," he said as he laid back against the moist ground. "You already know too much and will probably figure the rest out without me telling you anyway, so I'll tell you. The Uchiha clan has been planning a coup d'etat that will possibly start a civil war within Konoha. Shisui and I, for the past few years, have been planning and working against the Uchiha clan in hopes of stopping the coup d'etat and saving all of the innocent lives of the village in the process which is what you know from the first time we went under the same genjutsu together."

"Hmm," hummed Kakashi as he continued to mend all that he could within Shisui's body. "So, you're telling me that ROOT is against you stopping a civil war? I don't by it Itachi."

"Well, that's the unfortunate glitch in our plans," he said as he covered his face with his hands. "About a year ago, we were forced into bringing the Hokage and the elders of the village into this because we felt that it was necessary that they at least know what to look out for in the instance that we were unable to stop the Uchiha uprising in the end. Danzo seemed to jump on this and has been bashing all of our efforts since he got the news and seems to be trying to undermine our plans with every step we take. This made things very difficult for Shisui and I."

"I can see where that would be frustrating, but you both are great ninja, prodigies of your clan, surely you can get around it and make things work out," said Kakashi as he continued in his task. He silently wondered what he might do if he was put in the same position as the Uchiha in his company.

"Well, we tried. Danzo kept ROOT agents everywhere. They were constantly spying on us and sending information back to Danzo to give him ways to create obstacles for us. We realized about a month ago, after the Hokage couldn't do anything for us in regards to his best friend, that we would need to do something for ourselves if we were going to save the people of Konoha and stop the Uchiha. After what had happened earlier today where Danzo had attempted to steal one of Shisui's eyes at a private meeting they had arranged together, we knew that we would need to eliminate all possibilities of Danzo ever getting in our way again. It was all for the sake of the villagers, but Shisui fell unconscious before I could even find out if he had succeeded."

Itachi lay there staring at the ceiling of the cave and watched the droplets come down around his head like rain. The sound of the waterfall was deafening and he appreciated it greatly. He was unsure of what Kakashi might say to their foolhardy attempt at taking one of the village elder's lives, but he didn't care at this point so long as Shisui came out of the encounter alright and able to carry on with the important mission to save the Uchiha from themselves at all costs.

"He really tried to take one of Shisui's eyes?" asked Kakashi with a frown across his face.

"Yep. He even revealed that he had a collection of Sharingan eyes all over his right arm. That's why it's always kept bandaged in that sling of his. It's sickening to me," he said in disgust as he continued to ground himself on the floor of the cave.

"Collecting Sharingan?" Kakashi said as he unconsciously squeezed his own Sharingan eye tightly shut. "How many eyes had he collected?"

"Shisui said that there were around five that he had seen as well as the one that he had in place of his own right eye, but there could certainly have been more than that," said Itachi as he glanced at Kakashi whose back was facing him.

"That is troubling," said Kakashi as he turned to throw a smile Itachi's way. "So, if Shisui's eyes were in danger, why would you send him out to kill Danzo and put them at risk again?"

"Shisui wanted to do it. Neither of us have been very big on killing people in either of our ninja careers, and he figured that because he had been personally attacked by Danzo, it was his duty to take care of him and leave me to continue our preparations in our plans."

Kakashi smirked to himself at how clever the two men before him really were. "Well, how much do you have left to do, and do you think this will be successful?" he asked Itachi without turning back around.

"We still have a bit more to take care of, and our success depends on the amount of deterrents and distractions that pop up within the next few months, but our clan and the village are on the line here. We have no choice but to succeed," said Itachi as he felt the full weight of their task falling upon him once more.

"Yes, your care and dedication to Konoha will ensure your success. I have no doubt about that," Kakashi said as Shisui began to stir beneath his hands. Itachi was at his side in an instant.

"Shisui. Hey, Shisui, are you alright? Can you hear me?" he asked as his best friend slowly began to open his eyes. He smiled weakly to Itachi before letting his head fall back against the cave wall in pain.

"He still has a lot of wounds that will need to be taken care of at the hospital. I can provide a distraction for you or keep a look out so that you will be able to get there without any trouble," said Kakashi as he stood and stretched all of the muscles that were aching from kneeling for so long.

"Thank you, Kakashi-san," said Shisui without opening his eyes. He really couldn't believe how hard it was to face off against so many ROOT agents all at once.

"Shisui, can you stand? Do you need me to help you?" asked Itachi who would still only ever let the two men in his presence ever know what worry sounded like in his voice.

"Itachi, I'll be fine," chuckled Shisui as he held his hand out for Itachi to help him to his feet. He staggered for a moment but was steadied when Itachi grabbed his elbow to keep him still and balanced. Despite the pain wracking his body, this was certainly a start.

"I'll go out ahead of you to make sure everything is clear and meet you both at the hospital in a moment," said Kakashi as he quickly exited the mouth of the cave under the waterfall to lead the way for the two friends.

Shisui nodded to Itachi who released his arm and gestured for the injured man to go first so that he could assist him in the instance that he couldn't handle the journey to the hospital and needed to pass out again. Shisui obliged cheerful and quickly exited their favorite hiding place. Luckily, the hospital wasn't very far from the river, so it didn't take them very long to run there.

Itachi caught his friend as he stumbled when they landed in front of the hospital doors and made sure that he was checked in and safe before heading back outside to talk to Kakashi. The silver-haired man had been waiting for him since they had walked through the doors, but Itachi never felt rushed to get back to him which was a perk to their relationship. He nodded to Itachi as he exited the hospital and they each made their way down the street and back to Kakashi's house that was close by.

"He's going to be okay?" asked Kakashi as they jumped through his kitchen window. He moved about the room searching for a snack that the two of them could share as Itachi made himself comfortable at the table.

"Yes. The doctors said they would take good care of him after I told them that it was a training accident to blame," said the Uchiha as he watched the older man rummage for food in the cupboards.

"Mmm," he said in acknowledgement of Itachi's news. That was certainly good to hear.

"Did you have any trouble on your way to the hospital?" asked Itachi out of mild curiosity.

"No, the ROOT agents are all rather busy at the moment. Seems Shisui did quite a number on them before he got back to you," he said smiling at Itachi with a bag of chips in his hand. He sat down next to the raven and set the bag on the table in front of them.

Itachi smiled thinking about all that might have been damaged at ROOT headquarters and how Danzo must be livid at what had happened to his precious underground base. That image alone could have kept him smiling for another few hours, and he was sure Kakashi knew exactly what he was think about, too.

Kakashi took another chip out of the bag and stuck it in his mouth. _Uchiha sure were beautiful when they smiled_, he thought to himself as he watched Itachi relish in the idea of a destroyed ROOT base. "So, do you need to return to your preparations or do you have a bit of spare time to lend to other extracurricular activities?" he asked as he swallowed the food in his mouth.

Itachi smacked Kakashi playfully before folding his arms over his chest and leaning back in his chair. "Do you ever stop thinking about sex?" he asked as he saw the ANBU Captain pull his infamous orange icha icha book from his flak jacket pocket.

"I'm getting ideas for the next time we do it! This is all just research," he said as he barely dodged another smack from the raven. "What else am I suppose to do when we aren't naked?"

Itachi chuckled and stood from his seat and pecked Kakashi on his temple. "I suppose if you can't hold out for me then there are certainly worse vices that could catch your attention," he said as he climbed up onto the counter to jump out the window and into the warm evening air. He heard Kakashi chuckle to himself and was about to go on his merry way when Kakashi's words stopped him dead in his tracks.

"Congratulations, by the way," said Kakashi without looking at the long-haired raven behind him. "Danzo's dead."

* * *

**Well, there you have it. Slightly shorter than the last couple of chapters, but at least there's something right? Anyway, off to prepare myself for the journeys ahead. I hope to post another before I leave, but if I don't I hope you all understand that I'm simply busy gaining inspiration from the glorious land that provides us with such wonderful entertainment like Naruto.**

**Anyway, I hope you liked this chapter, and don't hesitate to tell me what you think!**

**Until next time,  
IPG**


	11. Chapter 10

**Time flies when you're having fun, right?**

* * *

Chapter 10

By the next afternoon, Shisui had finally woken up, and Itachi was right there waiting for him when he did. It wasn't every day that you got to share the exciting aftermath of a death, after all.

"Wait, wait. So, tell me again how Danzo's property suddenly caught on fire. The image alone is priceless!" Shisui laughed from his hospital bed as he ate a pudding cup that Itachi had brought him from the cafeteria.

"Yep, up in flames and everything. Of course, I did a bit of snooping before letting loose, but salvaging all of the ROOT files on all of the kids Danzo had managed to corrupt was really half of the battle. Now that they've mysteriously appeared on the Hokage's desk, there's nothing but to truly enjoy such a glorious sight to behold. Maybe when you get out of this place I'll show it to you in a genjutsu. I'd do it here, but the staff tend to frown upon overstimulation in the hospital environment," Itachi chuckled from his side of the small room. It was hard enough trying to finagle the nurses into giving Shisui a private room so that they could speak without the possibility of a spy sitting in the next bed.

"I just feel like a huge weight is off our shoulders now. Without having to worry about being intercepted by ROOT we should be able to get way more done. Plus, that guy is under my Kotoamatsukami and will probably get wind of Danzo's death from someone around this village, so not having to worry about the creepy Sharingan collector is a bonus!"

"It is indeed," Itachi said just as the smallest of knocks was heard at the door before it swung open to reveal none other than Hiruzen Sarutobi. "Lord Third, what brings you here?" asked Itachi as he quickly pushed himself off of the wall to bow.

"Relax, my boy. It's only a friendly visit to check on young Shisui's, uh… training injuries," Hiruzen assured as he stepped further into the room and stopped at the foot of the hospital bed. "So, how exactly did you manage five broken ribs, three cracked, bruised kidney and liver, several deep stab wounds on your arms and legs, a broken arm and wrist, and a concussion in a training accident?"

The Hokage's skepticism was there, but the two young men were experts at training their facial expressions and simply shrugged in response. "It's like you said, Hokage-sama, it was an accident, and wouldn't become us if rumor spread otherwise. We wouldn't want the Uchiha to become even more suspicious than they already are and then bump up their plans on the village, hmm?" Shisui said as he moved to make himself slightly more comfortable. The breaks and such were well mended, but he would be staying in the hospital for a few more days so that the doctors could ensure that all of his body was strong enough to get back to what it needed to be as a shinobi.

Hiruzen shook his head in amusement at just how clever the Uchiha boys had become over the past year. He certainly hoped they succeeded in their mission to protect both Konoha and the Uchiha. "Well, I certainly do hope you recover quickly. Seems that I have quite a bit of work to do myself now that this mysterious ROOT agency has been disbanded, and I have many unfortunate cases to deal with in the aftermath. I'm just amazed that even after Danzo died, someone still managed to set all the buildings within his compound on fire despite the supposed number of people meant to be loyal to him. I suppose some roots run much deeper than others in any case."

"Maybe it was a grass fire," Itachi supplied knowing that the year hadn't been that dry at all, but the Hokage seemed to go with it anyway.

"Perhaps," he mused before turning to leave the hospital room once more. "Continue the good work, young Uchiha."

Itachi and Shisui watched as he walked out and the door clicked shut behind them. "That was odd," Shisui said as he smoothed away a wrinkle in the blankets.

"Not really. He seemed like he was just telling us that he knew what we did and wasn't going to reprimand us for it but that we should probably watch our backs. I'm sure that he's not the only one to assume that we are responsible for ROOTs disbandment and whomever else knows will probably be hunting us," Itachi said as he leaned back against the wall he had been propped against before the Hokage had arrived

"Yeah, maybe," Shisui said before a nurse bustled in and shooed Itachi out of the room saying something about how 'visiting hours were over' and 'patients needed rest.' Shisui simply laughed at him as the door slammed shut in his face.

Now, Itachi was many things, but rude was not one of them and he hated when other people were ill-mannered towards him when he had done nothing to warrant it. Luckily, he wasn't one to hold grudges so it simply rolled off of his shoulders when the door slammed in his face. But, just to be sure, he figured that it wouldn't hurt to go out and find Kakashi to spar with.

The man was exactly where he figured he'd be, the Memorial Stone. It was a place that Kakashi frequented often, and though Itachi didn't know the particulars of why he stared at the stone, he would let the man say his peace before approaching.

"I can feel you there," Kakashi said as he turned to look at the raven-haired man standing against a tree to his right.

"I wasn't exactly hiding," said the raven in question. "I just wanted you to have the opportunity to gain your closure for the day before I ask you to come spar with me."

"Spar?" the older captain asked as if he was really going to leave things at sparring. "I guess I could spar for a little while."

Itachi smiled gratefully to his lover before jumping off into the trees followed closely by the silver-haired man he was glad to have gotten so close to.

* * *

Though taijutsu wasn't his main fighting style, Itachi always felt the most at ease and relaxed while fighting an opponent. When he used genjutsu or ninjutsu, he found that he always had to think about every little detail of the fight he was having, whereas taijutsu was merely feeling out how his partner would move next so that he could counter it.

He and Kakashi had been sparring for the better part of three hours, and Itachi was certain that he would win. The first hour had been about genjutsu in which Kakashi might as well have laid down before they had even started, but he had come back in their second hour of ninjutsu in which Kakashi was much more versatile with his moves than Itachi. So, they were tied and this was meant to be the tie-breaker for them. Who was going to come out as the ninja on top?

Itachi found himself jumping away from yet another of Kakashi's traps as a bushel of leaves and exploding tags fell from the trees above his head and started exploding. He didn't have the chance to get as far away as he would have liked, and the shock wave from the blast knocked him off balance from the branch he was standing on. He found himself falling from the insanely tall trees that were so common in his homeland and with no safety in sight, he tried rotating so that the impact with the ground would be less damaging for him, but before he could hit, he found himself snatched out of the air by none other than Kakashi himself.

"I honestly thought you'd be able to dodge that," he chuckled mildly as they both landed safely on the ground.

There were small bits of scorched tree and leaves falling from the branches above, and Itachi couldn't help but inhale the sweet smell of burning wood as it fell to the ground around them. "Well, I would have if someone hadn't used too many exploding tags and created a shockwave that knocked me off the branches I was running across," he said gaining a small sheepish blush across the visible parts of Kakashi's face.

Kakashi was about to say something to retort but found his mouth suddenly occupied by another. "Thank you for catching me when I fell," Itachi said when he pulled away. He was smiling that radiant, beautiful smile that Kakashi adored and couldn't help himself when he snatched the raven up in another searing kiss.

To be honest, Itachi knew that things would progress into something sexual the moment they got close enough to embrace, but that still didn't stop him from sending out a murder of crows to watch the area around them in the instance someone decided to stop by. When one of his watch-birds picked up that a dog in a blue vest had sat itself along the parameter as well, Itachi knew that things were about to go well beyond what he had intended to do in the forest that day.

Gaining the signal that everything was in place, Kakashi began unzipping Itachi's shirt to expose the creamy flesh beneath. A wandering thought flittered across his mind as to whether or not the skin beneath his fingers had ever seen the light of day before this moment, but it was there and gone in an instant as he quickly kissed up the raven's neck. He began sucking on Itachi's earlobe and his rough hands started wandering their territory.

Enjoying the attention but not wanting to be more naked than his lover, Itachi quickly rid the older captain of his own shirt and bit down on Kakashi's shoulder. There was a grunt of pain before he hummed with pleasure as the shorter raven licked at the bite marks and then moved his tongue along Kakashi's collarbones to kiss up the other side of the man's neck.

Somewhere in the kisses and clothing removal, Itachi managed to climb Kakashi's body so that they were chest to chest and hip to hip. Supporting his weight while he wrapped his legs around Kakashi's waist, Itachi found the roughness of tree bark digging into his back as the silver-haired man ground their still clothed but very hard erections together. Itachi whimpered at the combined sensations before he felt Kakashi fingering the waistband of his pants and then the coolness of the air hitting his bare behind. He inhaled sharply, but Kakashi already captured his mouth before he could protest or complain about it.

Not liking his own disadvantage in their positions, Itachi managed to swing his legs free and kick off the tree so that they fell to the ground in a tangle of limbs and pained grunts.

"What the hell was that for?" Kakashi asked as he had gotten the brunt of the impact. He, then, felt the coolness of the air against his thighs before Itachi held up his pants in triumph.

"Just trying to keep things even," Itachi said with a shrug before one of his favorite parts of his lover's body caught his attention. Like a lithe feline, Itachi wasted no time in pinning the silver-haired man to the ground and quickly taking his length in his mouth and bringing it back to life.

Of course, Kakashi had no more complaints after that as the raven was becoming more talented with each time they got together like this. He remembered the one time that he questioned whether Itachi had been practicing on someone else, and the raven had bitten down with his dick in his mouth. There were still teeth marks embedded in his skin and from that moment on, Kakashi learned to just enjoy his young lover's talents and never to question an Uchiha. The sharpness of Itachi's teeth scraping softly up his shaft brought him back to reality and he glanced down to see the dark orbs looking back at him.

"What's wrong?" Kakashi asked knowing that the teeth were only used to gain his attention.

"You are getting distracted! Pay attention!" Itachi exclaimed before he dove back into his task of sucking Kakashi off.

The silver-haired man smirked to himself because he was indeed distracted, so he flipped their positions with enough speed to catch Itachi completely off guard so that when he started stroking and kissing the raven's bare chest, it was a raw, beautiful sound caught completely within that moment. Knowing that he should never be unprepared when it came to the raven, Kakashi reached into his discarded pants and found the small bottle of travel lotion he kept there for occasions such as these.

He slicked his fingers and began the slow process of circling the puckered entrance of Itachi's rear end. He had moved his face so that his mouth was level with Itachi's erection before he let his tongue lazily trace the veins on the raven's penis. As one finger entered, Kakashi took the length into his mouth just as Itachi's hiss turned into a wanton moan. Kakashi watched the beautiful man as he bent to every sensation he could provide and as the midnight eyes connected with his own mismatched ones, he slid another finger inside.

Noticing the small pools of tears forming at the corners of Itachi's eyes, Kakashi released the penis from his mouth and crawled so that he had enough leverage to pull the raven into his lap while his fingers continued in their task.

"What is it?" asked Kakashi as he kissed the tears away from his face. He slipped another finger in and Itachi gasped and buried his face in Kakashi's strong chest.

"It's nothing," he grunted, "We just haven't done this in awhile is all."

Realizing this, Kakashi paused in his preparations and started drowning Itachi in apologies and kisses. "I'm sorry, I just got so excited, I forgot how long it's been," he said as he licked at a pink nipple before sucking and pulling on it gently with his teeth.

Soon enough, moans of pleasure came pouring from pink lips, and Kakashi took that as his sign to continue as he began moving his fingers once more. Once he was good and ready, Kakashi, aroused from the sounds Itachi made when he felt pleasure, removed his fingers and positioned himself at the prepared entrance,

"Ready?" he asked and the small nod was all the confirmation he needed to slowly lower the smaller man down until he was seated deep within the tight hole. Kakashi waited for the raven to nod his approval to move, and once that happened, all bets were off that Kakashi would stop for anything but the Hokage himself appearing before them. It truly had been way too long since they'd done anything like this.

Itachi was also being much more responsive this time around. He knew it was because the two Uchihas had been working themselves to their breaking point, but Kakashi didn't realize how much Itachi had been keeping a brave face until the moment his ferocious tiger on the prowl turned into a cute agile kitten that was more pur than roar. Itachi's control slipped entirely into Kakashi's hands and the silver-haired captain wasn't quite sure what to do with it. Tentatively, Kakashi lightly kissed pink lips that responded earnestly, but with less domineering enthusiasm than was typical for the raven.

Kakashi's excitement bubbled as the possibilities flooded his mind. Even as every thrust brought them both closer, he plotted the undoing of the raven beneath him if only to see how Itachi would react in being at the mercy of his seme for the moment. It wasn't every day that Kakashi would get an opportunity like this, after all, and it seemed only fitting that if their private life together was going to change, it only made sense that the change happen somewhere other than his bedroom as well.

"What are you thinking?" Asked Itachi as he had been watching the man think around their intimacy for some time. "Am I not stimulating enough for you?"

"Contrary, I was simply admiring your pliability in this moment. It's not everyday that I'm presented with such opportunities," Kakashi leered as he amped up his pace. "I mean, I don't think you would have ever let me do this to you in public before this moment and here we are in the middle of the woods with only the warnings of our trusted summons to warn us of incoming company. Do you think you'd be able to dress yourself that quickly if someone were coming in at ninja speeds?"

Itachi, not really enjoying himself with the looming thought of being caught stark nude having sex with a man in the forest, stopped their movement and shot Kakashi the coldest of glares he could muster. "That was the dumbest thing you could have said. Why would you kill the mood like that?"

Realizing his own faux pas, Kakashi quickly tried to rectify his meaning, but back pedaling got him nowhere with Itachi, as he well knew, and soon enough, Itachi was standing and redressing himself leaving Kakashi laying naked and fuming in the dead, dry leaves. He wasn't made at Itachi for leaving. In fact, he welcomed it considering just how angry he was at himself, but he was unsatisfied as well, and sooner or later, that would need to be taken care of in some way or another.

* * *

Itachi's mind, now that it wasn't focused on sex, was rapidly consumed by the coming months ahead of them. Not only did they need to ensure that everything went according to plan, but he knew that soon enough, the whole village would know of Danzo's passing, and that sudden void left in the power dynamic between the Uchiha and greater Konoha would expedite the plans for everyone involved, which meant that he and Shisui would need to be extra prepared for anything to happen whether from the Uchiha side or the masked man himself.

It infuriated him, honestly, as his one distraction in life was ruined by none other that that silver-haired distraction himself, but that life would have to be put on the back burner anyway. There could be no room for error once things started heating up in Konoha.

Thinking to himself, he barely noticed one particular shadow lurking in his peripheral vision as he ran. Knowing that it likely wasn't Kakashi, and Shisui was stuck in the hospital for at least another two days, this sneaky figure probably wasn't there with good tidings. Ricocheting off of one of the many huge trees in his path, Itachi quickly launched himself at the dark figure who had little time but to protect himself from the raven that used his momentum to flip feet forward as he spun rapidly through the air only to torpedo himself into the person with a force that knocked him at bone-breaking speeds into the nearest tree. There was no way the shadow could have avoided it, and there was really no way that he was going to regain consciousness anytime soon afterwards.

Examining him to make sure he wasn't actually killed when he hit the tree, Itachi took the moment to study the person that had been following him. He was certainly young, maybe even as young as Sasuke, and his hair was an inky black that rivaled any Uchiha he knew, and Itachi was positive that the child had lived his entire life indoors until that moment because his skin was ghostly. Despite all of those factors, his skills were honed based on the way he'd been following Itachi which meant that Itachi could not underestimate him no matter what age the kid seemed to be.

Deciding to wait things out, Itachi pulled out a spool of wire and quickly tied the boy to a tree being careful to avoid the few fractured ribs and broken clavicle on the kid's left side. He'd help the boy reset it if that's what the kid wanted, but it'd be a waiting game until then to see if the boy would wake up before nightfall. It was unlikely, but it served as a nice break from everything else happening in the young Uchiha's life.

* * *

Even by morning, the child had not woken up. Itachi decided that if the kid had some sort of concussion, which was likely, he better make sure that no immediate brain damage was setting in and gave the kid a quick jab to his fractured ribs to see if he could force the boy into waking up. He merely groaned in protest of the pain Itachi was causing him, but he wouldn't open his eyes until Itachi became so annoying that it forced a physical, alert reaction out of him.

"Ah, there you are, Sleepyhead, I was beginning to think you'd be down for good," Itachi joked as he crouched beside the child's smaller frame wire-wrapped to the tree. "So, you thought you could get a jump on me, huh? Shame you didn't think that one through a little bit better or you wouldn't be in this mess. Now, tell me, what do you want?"

The child remained cold-faced and silent in a way that any Uchiha would be proud of, but the kid was not an Uchiha, which meant that he definitely had his breaking point in there somewhere. Itachi just needed to find it.

"Quite the mute, I see," Itachi tsked as he stood and leaned against the tree above the kid's head. Itachi wondered if he were the child, what his possible weaknesses might be. "Are you after me because of your family? Maybe, I've wronged one of your relatives and you're here to strike vengeance upon me?" The child remained stoic, which meant that Itachi wasn't even close at this point. Hmm, what could it possibly be?

After a solid three hours of getting absolutely nowhere, Itachi decided it was time for a good meal and a break. If the kid wasn't going to talk through pleasantries, perhaps he would talk through torture. It was the least he could do since the kid decided to pick a fight in the first place and wouldn't even tell him why. That childish stubbornness was the exact reason Itachi couldn't stand almost every child in Konoha. In fact, he currently had a strong dislike for all of the children in Konoha, except for one.

In that moment, Itachi had a brilliant idea. Of course, he couldn't figure his captive out, he didn't much like him, but he did like Sasuke and that was the key in all of this. He certainly wasn't going to involve his precious brother in any of his higher calibre ninja work, but he could certainly ask him hypothetical questions about it, which Sasuke would happily answer if it meant that he got to spend time with his Aniki. Taking off into the forest without a word to his mini prisoner, Itachi ran in the direction of the Academy hoping that Iruka-sensei wouldn't be too angry with him for taking his brother from class for a bit.

* * *

"Aniki!" shrieked the pint-sized raven that dropped everything he was doing to run headlong into Itachi's stomach for a hug.

Itachi smiled down at his brother before glancing up to speak with Iruka-sensei. "I'm sorry this is unannounced, but would you mind if I took Sasuke out for a bit?" Itachi asked as he rested his hand atop Sasuke's head.

Iruka, being the kind and patient man that he was, typically tried to limit the amount of class time his students missed no matter who came knocking at the door, but Sasuke never had interruptions, and since he was top of the class anyway, Iruka couldn't see the harm in letting him step out for awhile if he was coming back before the end of the day. "It's no trouble at all. Just know you'll have a bit of classwork to make up when you get back, alright Sasuke?"

Sasuke nodded enthusiastically as he would do anything for even a moment with Itachi, and despite the protests of one yellow-haired nightmare child at the back of the class, the door slipped quietly shut behind them as they went to exit the Academy.

"So, what are we going to do today, Nii-san? Training?" He asked as his eyes grew large and twinkly at the very thought of being pulled out of school to play ninja with Itachi.

"I suppose it's something like training, but not in the way you think. How about we get some lunch and you tell me all about school so far, okay?" Itachi suggested casually as he steered them in the direction of the restaurant district of Konoha. "Go ahead and pick anything you want."

With each moment, the day skyrocketed to one of the very best days Sasuke had ever had, and with all seriousness, Sasuke gave a salute to his older brother before marching ahead to find the perfect place for them to eat. Thankfully, it was a small place and they were alone. After ordering, Itachi waited for Sasuke to calm down a bit from his enthusiastic high before asking him the questions he'd hoped the child would have the answers to. There were never any guarantees, of course, but it was worth a try anyway.

"So, Sasuke, what have you been up to in school? Tell me about your classmates," Itachi began as Sasuke sat happily across from him.

"Well, Iruka-sensei has us learning throwing techniques, but those are super easy. My classmates are okay except for this stupid, annoying one called Naruto who always wants to fight me. It's a waste of my time, honestly, but it happens without fail at least once a day. The boys are better than the girls, too. The girls like to follow me around everywhere and it gets annoying after a while," he scowled at the very thought of girls, and Itachi could say he knew the feeling, but he also knew he hadn't had to deal with them long since he'd graduated early and was promoted through the ranks just as quickly after that.

"Well, I wanna say it'll get better, but not for quite some time at the rate you're going, so I guess my advice it just to ignore them until they all move on," Itachi suggested as their food arrived at their table and they spoke their thanks before digging in.

"So, uh Sasuke… Mind if I ask you a few personal questions?" the older raven asked between bites of his meal. Sasuke nodded as he slurped up his soup giving Itachi the okay to continue. "I know, I'm older and we haven't spent much time together, but I just wanted to know who you are. What are your likes and dislikes? Who are your most precious people, and who would you do anything for no matter what?"

Sasuke paused with another bite halfway to his mouth to think. He let his chopsticks slacken and the food slipped back into his bowl. "You, Aniki. I love you."

Itachi had to stop himself from choking on his dumplings. Just the innocence in the words and the way his adorable little head tilted slightly as if it was dumb of Itachi to even ask such a question, as if it were the most obvious of answers. It was more than Itachi ever thought he deserved to hear.

"It's true, Nii-san. I would do anything for you no matter what, and I don't care if you wouldn't do the same… you would do the same, though, wouldn't you?"

_More than you possibly could ever know_, Itachi thought as he took another bite of his meal. "Of course, I would do anything for you, Sasuke. You are my little brother, after all."

Satisfied with that answer, ten-year-old Sasuke happily went back to eating, as well, waiting on the next question that Itachi might ask.

* * *

After returning Sasuke to Iruka and the Academy, much to the boy's chagrin, Itachi felt he had a pretty good grasp on how to continue with the boy being held captive in the woods. It was probably a long shot, but if he and Sasuke had a greater bond with each other than with their parents, then maybe the boy had a similar situation and could be broken in that way instead.

Landing amongst the dry leaves, Itachi watched the boy startle from his napping before scowling at Itachi, again. The kid may have been just as ballsy as Sasuke in his audacity to shoot off looks like that to his captor, but kids never seemed to gauge what was best for them.

"Well, I didn't find much, but I found out about your brother," Itachi casually mentioned as he pulled out a kunai and a sharpener to pass his time. "Shame, really."

"You know nothing about him!" growled the boy which made Itachi grin internally. Instead, Itachi merely raised one curious brow at him which made the kid's pale lips snap shut as if he could quell his anger just by shutting up. Itachi knew better than that having Sasuke as his example.

"Oh, yeah. It's a crying shame. And now you're here all alone. Pity."

Itachi watched the emotions dance through the boy's eyes as if he were fighting the urge to burst out right then and there. "Perhaps, if you'd been a little stronger, things wouldn't have gone in the direction they had."

"It would have been the same, except I would have died. That's the only difference because I was so weak, I am so weak! Damn you!" screamed the boy as he grit his teeth and attempted to wriggle himself free of his binds for the first time Itachi had seen since he'd been captured. No doubt, to get away from the truths Itachi was forcing him to face here.

"As far as I can tell, I don't think you are weak," Itachi told him now that it was time to play on his loving brother nature. "In fact, you survived, right? That counts for something, and I'm sure he would appreciate that."

"Sure, I survived because Shin was going to die anyway. He was sick! He forced me to go on without him, and he would be so angry with me for getting angry on his behalf in front of you!" he spat as he struggled a bit more before giving up and going limp against the tree. "You told me to stop feeling, and I'm trying, but it's so hard to do…"

Itachi took that moment to study the boy before him. He was truly only a child, yet he was one of the strongest people the young Uchiha had ever laid eyes upon. Itachi wasn't even sure he'd be able to go on like that if something had happened to Sasuke. It was a wonder how the boy could even function.

"What's your name?" Itachi questioned as he put his tools back in one of his numerous utility pockets.

"Sai," mumbled the boy giving up entirely on his personal mission to quell his behavior and emotions in front of his captor.

"Well, Sai, why were you chasing me?"

Sighing heavily, the boy took the moment to let his head fall back against the rough bark of the tree to throw a sardonic grin at the sky before answering. "I figured that if I could kill you then I might be able to bring my master peace and possibly reform ROOT in the process. Maybe that's what Shin would have wanted, too."

Itachi had to take a moment to reprocess everything he knew about Sai until now. If the boy was a part of ROOT, then that meant that he was likely a part of one of the higher families in Konoha as that seemed to be the case for almost every child Danzo had under his control. If that were true, then perhaps there was hope for this child as well! It was a small moment of hope, but he would latch onto it, none the less.

* * *

**Deviating from the norm...**

**Until next time,**

**ItalianPirateGypsy**


	12. Chapter 11

**I'm on a roll. Yay!**

* * *

**Chapter 11**

"I'm sorry we couldn't find his family, Itachi-kun. It would seem that while Danzo kept meticulous records on his agents, the only details we have about this particular child are that he was discovered with an older boy named Shin, they were not blood related, though they might as well have been based on the bond they shared, and that he showed excellent promise at being one of the best even at this tender age. Other than that, it's safe to assume we have one of many orphans on our hands, and if he cannot adapt to society, well, I'm not quite sure what good he is to us then," Hiruzen explained as he flit through one of the smallest files received from the destruction of ROOT. It was a pity that the one's with the least detail always seemed to need the most help and attention.

"I suppose, if you wish to rehabilitate him yourself, you are more than welcome to, but I would just as easily assume that with the current state of affairs with the Uchiha Clan and Konoha that you would just as happily hand him over to the system to have that taken care of for you.

Itachi closed his eyes and took a moment to breathe in his options. Certainly, leaving Sai with the system would be an easy way to work things out, but the very thought of Sai getting lost in that system set his teeth on edge. There was no denying that Sai held too much of resemblance to Sasuke, and since that was the case, there was no way Itachi could let anyone but himself set the tone for how the kid was going to turn out in the end. That was just how it had to be.

Sighing heavily at the addition of an extra thing he was set to be in charge of as a sixteen-year-old ANBU captain of Konoha and future Clan Head of the Uchiha, Itachi focused back on the Sandaime Hokage sitting across the desk from him. "I don't believe that anyone else will be able to do justice to a child like Sai in our current system. Therefore, I believe it is my duty to take him on, now, despite my own current home life."

"If you're sure," agreed Hiruzen with the smallest of smirks pulling at the corners of his mouth. "Then, I suppose this can just be added to the tasks I'm paying you for as one of my shinobi. And before you protest, the task would have gone to another of your colleagues if you hadn't taken it, and I would have paid them, as well, so there's nothing to it but to accept my offer and head on your way to give him the news."

Thinking that protesting was unbecoming as an Uchiha, anyway, Itachi bowed deeply to Lord Third and took that as his moment to escape the confines of the Hokage office and head out across the rooftops and back into the forest where he was keeping Sai. If he truly was going to be a guardian, he needed to put Sai to the test to ensure that he had what it took to be a Shinobi of Konoha.

* * *

Wondering what it took to care for a broken child, Itachi slowly untied the wires that were keeping Sai safely attached to the tree for the past week. He wasn't sure what the boy would do once he was set free, but Itachi could only hope that they might actually get off to a good start.

As Sai could finally wriggle free of the wire, he stood and stretched happily careful not to disrupt the bones still setting slowly in his body. They hurt, but it wasn't anything he hadn't had to deal with before.

As quick as he possibly could while he had the chance, Sai went in and sucker punched Itachi straight in the jewels causing the older raven to crumple in pain. Itachi could honestly say he wasn't expecting it and that made it all the worse because there was no way to brace yourself for that kind of pain.

"Cheap shot," he grunted as he tried to knead the pain away while attempting to continue his own Uchiha facade. Though he tried, he wasn't successful in any attempt at removing the scowl from his dark eyes.

"That was for keeping me tied to a tree for a week, Prick," sneered Sai, but it was gone in an instant as his knees buckled and he fell limply to the ground.

"There is no winning for you here, Sai," Itachi explained to the unconscious boy, as he tried clawing his way onto his hands and knees. "Any fighting, trouble, or lashing out you cause will all be in vain because I have my Sharingan, and your own inexperience with a master Sharingan user will always be trouble for you and all that oppose it. Hopefully, I can teach you that someday."

He chuckled darkly as he tenderly pulled himself out of the fetal position to tie his young charge back to the same tree he'd just gotten away from. _A few more days won't hurt_, he thought, and it was all he could do to keep himself from breaking another bone in the kid's body and fainting all at the same time.

* * *

_Children really are the worst, _thought the young ANBU as he landed in his favorite training field to await Shisui's arrival. It was finally the day for Shisui to get out of the hospital and for them to get down to business, and there was still the nagging feeling that something was missing, but Itachi could simply chalk it up to not having seen Kakashi since their rendezvous in the forest over a week ago. It was stupid how much the silver-haired man had gotten under his skin.

"Ah, it's about time you showed up. I was beginning to think they'd never let you leave," he chuckled as his cousin landed before him in the grass. "You seem good as new."

"Yeah, that's more than I can say for you, Itachi. Perhaps I should put you on the brink of death so you, too, can get the rejuvenating elixir of a hospital stay, eh?" Shisui joked nudging the other teen in the ribs.

"Thanks, but based on what it took to put you in there in the first place, I think I'll pass on that experience," Itachi grumbled rubbing his side.

"So, did we learn anything new while I was away, or has it been pretty quiet on the outside? Let me guess, you were waiting to hear all that I knew before you said anything," the shorter haired raven asked as he plopped down in the field to enjoy the blissful feeling of freedom a bit more thoroughly.

Itachi joined him far more gracefully before responding. "Not a whole lot on the coup front, but I found myself a new little brother, so Sasuke might not be too happy with me for awhile."

"Oh, Mikoto had a baby? Congrats!" Shisui laughed thinking about just how angry Sasuke would truly be as a middle child and the very obvious fact that his aunt and uncle likely hadn't intimately touched each other in the better part of ten years since Sasuke was born. It was a cringe-worthy thought, but true all the same.

Itachi shot his cousin a look of contempt. "No, I found myself being hunted by one of those ROOT kids and now I've been promoted to guardian. He's tied to a tree under a genjutsu as we speak," Itachi said nonchalantly leaning back in the grass. "The little shit deserves it, honestly."

"Well, good luck with that…" he stated sarcastically thinking about all that was happening inside of the masked man's head in that moment. "I think we're going to get a visit soon. It's definitely starting to get real."

Itachi glanced at his best friend who became more serious than he'd seen in a long while. Shisui was leaning propped against his bent knees, staring out into the trees as they blew peacefully in the mid-summer wind. Acting far more pensive than usual, Itachi knew what was on his cousin's mind, but as their relationship went, communication wasn't necessary for them to understand. The plan was intended to go in this direction from the start, and Shisui would end up telling him how things went, eventually.

* * *

Itachi startled awake sensing the presence of a body outside his window. Grabbing his katana from its hiding place between his bed and the wall, he crept to the window and glanced out to see if he might glimpse the intruder. Walking along the fence was none other than an ANBU wearing a crow mask. Releasing the breath he'd been holding, Itachi threw open his window, to let the man inside.

"Why are you dressed like that?" the long-haired Uchiha asked reaching to remove the mask from Shisui's face but stopped when he dodged to prevent it.

"He's here."

Needing no further prompting, Itachi quickly dressed in his own ANBU uniform before donning his own weasel mask and jumping out the window after Crow. "What's he doing here?"

"I don't know, I woke up and I saw him here at the station. I think he's with your father," Crow whispered on the wind as it rushed past their faces while they ran. "I believe the time has come."

Itachi resisted the urge to gulp as that really could only mean that one of the many failsafes they'd implemented had been overcome and that would expedite their mission possibly much faster than they were able to work. It, in part, had contributed to the edgy atmosphere Itachi had been carrying with him since the news of Danzo's demise, but both ANBU had been waiting for this particular moment. It was only a matter of time before they couldn't avoid it any longer and had to face the music. Sometimes, that's just what shinobi had to do for their village.

As they crept up to the barred window of the police chief's office, they could hear the muffled sounds of men speaking beyond the panes.

"We aren't prepared for war right now. We'd be lucky if we were ready by the end of the month. There's too much at risk for us to simply waltz right into battle unprepared," Fugaku growled at whomever was in the office with him.

"You must understand that the sooner we take Konoha completely by surprise, the more likely our success will be," argued the masked man as he stood against the wall with his arms casually crossed over his chest. "If you can't understand the benefits in that, then perhaps I overestimated the Uchiha clan and will need to look elsewhere to fulfill my plans."

"No, wait, please," Fugaku begged hoping not to disappoint the man that had given his clan so much in the past few years. "I'm sorry. We'll have it set by the end of the week. I promise."

"See that it's done," the stranger ordered before vanishing in the vortex like he had every other time they'd met.

Fugaku sighed audibly before leaning back in his chair to forcefully rub at his tired eyes.

"Who was that?" Weasel asked having startled Fugaku after his silent entrance.

"Who was what? Ah, no one. How did you get in here?"

"It is our duty to protect the village from unsavory people, Uchiha-san."

"So it would seem," Fugaku mused having narrowly completed his own business for the evening before the ANBU had arrived. "Well, I'm off as my work here is finished. Can I walk you out?"

Weasel shook his head in the negative before leisurely shunshinning out of the office and back into the darkness of the night. He was happy Crow had woken him up, but now that the rest of the night was wasted on sleep, the pair headed out into the grounds to hone their perfected genjutsu techniques and await the next pin to drop.

* * *

Shisui landed on the front step of one plain-looking apartment complex. Konoha was quiet in the early traces of dawn which was how the young ANBU had intended it to be on this particular visit to Kakashi's. Looking around at each of the doors before stepping up to one in a plain gray color, he gave a quick, sharp knock and listened to be sure the person living inside was actually coming to see who was visiting. After a few moments of patience, a silver-haired man opened the door, slightly disgruntled at being disturbed at such an early hour of the morning.

"Ah, Kakashi-san, may I come in?" inquired Crow as he pushed his way past the ANBU captain and into the tiny apartment. He'd only been there once before, but it seemed exactly the same as last time, just as plain and sparse on objects that proved anyone of interest actually lived there. It was a coward's way of living if he really thought about it as Kakashi's own willingness to die up to this moment. It was a shame to see such exquisite talent wasted.

"It's been a while, Crow. To what do I owe the pleasure?" Kakashi asked sitting on his small couch after Crow had taken the armchair.

Removing his mask, Shisui threw it on the table between them before proving his name as Shisui of the Body Flicker was rightfully given. He angrily pounced on Kakashi faster than the man could even attempt to avoid it and managed to pin the older man to the couch with a kunai forcefully pressed against his adam's apple. Gaining Kakashi's full attention before Shisui's eyes flashed red and all of his memories gained from the Kotoamatsukami transferred into Kakashi's mind. It wasn't much by any means, but it was enough that Shisui had inferred what he'd needed and knew Kakashi was unwittingly withholding valuable information from their cause. At least, that was what Shisui wanted Kakashi to think.

"Don't you dare act pleasant with me, Kakashi. I have a few questions and based on your current position, I suggest you answer them honestly," inferring the damage that would certainly come to Kakashi if he offered anything less.

Kakashi nodded, though dazed by the flood of familiar images implanted into his head and unsure as to what he'd done. He remained stock-still and waited for Shisui to ask him something in hopes he even had the answers the young Uchiha was searching for. "What can I do for you, then?"

"Who is the masked man?" Shisui began not once stuttering or loosening his grip on Kakashi or the kunai.

"What masked-"

"Damnit! Who is Obito Uchiha? How do you know the masked man?" Shisui growled lightly slicing the fabric of his specialized shirt and the soft skin at Kakashi's throat causing a small trail of blood to flow down and around to the back of his neck.

Paying no mind to the blood and slight pinch of pain, Kakashi was actually stunned into silence and furiously worked through the memories in his head that could suggest Shisui had any right to torment him with such a name. Obito had been dead for far longer than Shisui had been alive. There should have been no reason that the young Uchiha would know his old teammate's name, yet here he was being threatened with it.

"Answer me!" the young raven growled tightening his grip on Kakashi's shirt playing fully into the irate betrayal that he'd intended the silver-haired man to see.

As the sensation of foreign chakra cleared from his mind and Kakashi was able to truly focus, strange, but familiar memories came into focus. They were similar to his own childhood in that the people and situations were the same, but he found himself looking at his own child self instead of a young version of Obito, which were memories that he'd visited accidentally every so often in his nightmares. It was unavoidable as Kakashi saw, once again, that he really had been so cold to his teammates when they were younger and the unbearable nostalgia and guilt wracked his body as he tried to shake the unwelcome memories away.

"Why are you doing this?" Kakashi cried in torment though his tormentor would not let him go. "What have I done to deserve this? Are we not friends?"

Through the anguish and lack of control, each memory grew stronger and more prominent in his mind until they overwhelmed him into facing his greatest fear and greatest failure, the death of Rin.

Knowing that this memory for both Obito and Kakashi seemed particularly painful, Shisui braced himself for the struggle of holding Kakashi down as he tried to escape his past. It was in that moment, that he really knew that Kakashi didn't know the masked man's true identity, though they had once been friends like he and Itachi. Kakashi was masochistic, but not to the point of enduring this kind of torture without probable cause.

"Kakashi, pay attention to the memories. Think through them. What's different? What do you see that you didn't already know?" Shisui prodded trying to reel Kakashi back to reality and talk him through the pain so that the Uchiha might gain a bit more information on the masked man that he hadn't already obtained from the memories. "Talk to me! Tell me what you see, now."

Through ragged breaths, he started sorting through the memories with some semblance of control that he hadn't started with. Kakashi begrudgingly took the time to search for the differences that he hadn't seen through his own eyes. Coming to Obito's death, looking up at his best friend and the girl of his dreams, Kakashi faced the moments of blank space he was going to see in the space after Rin had transplanted his left eye.

_Take it Kakashi. Watch after her for me, okay?_

Kakashi shook off the guilt once more before continuing onto the next of the memories Shisui had collected. He could certainly see why the teen had come after him if these memories were anything to go by. The kid was more astute than Kakashi had initially given him credit for.

He came to a memory that he'd tried to skip over before his full blown panic attack. Rin was there at a distance and so was his younger self. It was the moment that the three of them would have been reunited, but once he'd cleared the bushes, a chidori-fueled hand was sticking through a gaping hole in his beautiful Rin's chest. _How could Kakashi do this? He promised me, but he broke it… It would seem the old man was right…_ Then the sharp pain beneath Obito's eye, that Kakashi was all too familiar with, bled through and awakened the Mangekyo Sharingan in his right eye the same way Kakashi had felt in his left eye that dreaded day.

Surfacing into reality like he'd been held under water long after the bubbles had stopped, Kakashi gasped in the apartment air that was suddenly far too stifling for him to breathe normally. He needed to get out.

"What did you see?" asked Shisui as he slackened his grip slightly to give Kakashi a bit more room.

"I'm sorry," Kakashi said, taking the opportunity to flashing his own Sharingan and rush to the open window in his kitchen. "I cannot help you."

Shisui broke through the genjutsu easily enough as he was sure Kakashi had intended, but it was just enough time that the older man had escaped and likely wouldn't be returning for quite some time.

Shisui resheathed his kunai and rubbed at the back of his neck. Of course, that had been in the plan, but that was much harder to muster through than he'd anticipated. Kakashi definitely had some serious issues to work through, but as per the plan, he hoped that Kakashi never fixed them, or at least not yet.

* * *

"Fancy meeting you here," Itachi chuckled as he landed next to Kakashi who was staring intently at a particular spot on the Memorial Stone. He'd decided that they'd been apart long enough, and the raven would be needing Kakashi's help in the coming week, but before he could get remotely comfortable, Kakashi had whipped around with a kunai in hand slicing dangerously close to Itachi's throat.

"Woah! Kakashi, it's me!" the raven blurted raising one hand in surrender as the other instinctively reached for a weapon.

Blinking in realization, Kakashi lowered his own weapon before walking up and wrapping Itachi in a solemn embrace that spoke volumes on the mood he was in.

"What's wrong?" Itachi pleaded returning his hug while tracing loving circles across Kakashi's back, Itachi wondered what had gotten the normally impartial captain so down. "This isn't about us, is it?"

Kakashi chuckled darkly, but held on a little tighter, as well. "No, I need to take care of a few things for a mission, and I probably won't be around for you in the next few days when it really counts, but I'm glad I'm here to see you before I leave."

"Wait, what?" Itachi gulped trying and failing to back out of the embrace to actually look at Kakashi's face but getting nowhere as Kakashi wasn't letting him go just yet. He calmed when he realized that Shisui must have pulled the trigger on the next phase as that could be the only thing taking him away at such a crucial time. If that were the case, then Itachi would need to act his part to ensure it all happened according to plan. "Kakashi, we need you here. We might not win without your help."

"I'm sorry," he whispered as he kissed Itachi for what seemed to be the last time. It was deep and forceful as if he was trying to convey everything he felt in one moment of time as if they were touching souls as well as lips and with every moment that passed, Itachi felt more fear bubbling up in the pit of his stomach without being able to do anything about it. Despite everything, he was still sending Kakashi into the world without any back up and that could be dangerous no matter what their shinobi status happened to be.

Kakashi released him and started backing away from his raven with slow, even steps. "Whatever you need to do then. Just come back to me, alright?" Itachi bargained knowing that he wasn't meant to chase after the Copy-Cat Nin anymore. Shisui had gotten to him, and their paths would part with dignity as intended.

Kakashi smiled but said nothing to assure of his own return. Instead, he flashed a grin along with one Sharingan eye. "Give some of those to Shisui, won't you?" he instructed before vanishing in a shunshin and leaving Itachi all alone.

Feeling empty and having nothing but a series of jumbled memories and foreign chakra to occupy his mind, Itachi propped himself against the huge granite monument to begin the slow process of sorting everything out, though, the one memory that begged the most attention seemed to be the most painful of them all to face.

Kakashi was staring at his reflection in the Memorial Stone smirking with his mask pulled down so that Itachi could see his face. _Serial killers are scary_, he began with seriousness, though Itachi could see the corners of his mouth trying to quirk up in amusement, _but you know what else is scary? Losing you. So, I'd really appreciate it if you didn't become a serial killer because then I'd lose you and I'd be super scared and that's not fun for me._ He smiled truly at his reflection knowing it was for Itachi to see then. _But, seriously, you're my favorite thing to do. Suceed beautifully. I love you._

Ignoring the fact that that was the first time he'd heard Kakashi say he loved anything, let alone an Uchiha, Itachi put that thought aside to sort through the rest as apparently, Shisui needed them for something that would hopefully help in their cause. And if Shisui needed it, Itachi likely needed to know it, as well.

* * *

After sorting through all of Kakashi's dirty musings, Itachi had compiled a solid amount of information to give to Shisui, but he hadn't seen his cousin since they'd parted ways earlier that morning, so the young ANBU decided to visit his new charge and possibly free him from his tree, hopefully for good, instead.

He landed on the ground in front of the dark-haired child startling him as he had every other time he'd come to visit. "Ready to leave the forest?" he asked brandishing a kunai ready to set the kid free.

"Yes," Sai grumbled giving Itachi permission to cut him loose.

Itachi did just that, and the boy took the moment to stretch once more. "We'll be staying at a friend's for a bit so I can keep an eye on you, but we'll need to pick up some food first if you're alright with that."

Sai stopped stretching and studied Itachi for a moment before responding with a nod. "Why aren't you turning me in?" he asked, curiosity getting the better of him. "I did try to kill you, and I did punch you in the balls. Shouldn't you be trying to get rid of me?"

_Yeah, don't remind me, Kid_, he thought but smiled kindly at Sai instead. "I asked to keep you."

Caught off guard, Sai almost fell from the branches they were running on, but Itachi was there and ready to catch him before he slipped too far. "You what?"

"I asked Lord Third to let me keep you as he was honestly going to take you off my hands at my request. My only hope is that that genjutsu explained a few things for you and that you might be willing to stick with me and see this thing through," the older raven stated as he made sure Sai was steady on the branches before continuing on ahead.

"But, why me?" Sai asked not quite understanding the logic behind Itachi's choices.

"Glutton for punishment," Itachi coughed so that he was the only one of the pair that could understand it. "You remind me of my little brother, and I couldn't see you getting lost in the system knowing that I had the power to do something about it and didn't. You have a few options now that we can discuss later, but this gives you much more freedom as a citizen of Konoha than if they were to try and rehabilitate you otherwise."

Out of the corner of his eye, Itachi saw the boy cringe at the thought of being institutionalized, and honestly, he couldn't blame him one bit. The word itself was cringeworthy.

After getting groceries and settling into Kakashi's apartment, Itachi went about making a nice meal as Sai hadn't likely eaten anything sustainable since Danzo had died. Settling down at the table, Itachi sighed his moment of relief before clapping his hands together in gratitude and being assaulted by the ferocious chewing noises of the other person sitting at the table with him. Glancing at Sai, who was currently shoveling as much food as he possibly could fit into his mouth, Itachi was left to grimace at the little pig sitting before him.

"What are you doing?" he asked trying to hold onto his appetite and failing beautifully.

Sai turned to the older raven with a quirked eyebrow and some soba noodles dangling from his slack-jawed mouth as if Itachi was the crazy one for interrupting him. "Eating, what does it look like I'm doing?" he asked with a full mouth slurping up half of the dangling noodles and letting the rest fall back in his bowl.

"Has anyone ever spoken with you about manners?" Itachi asked completely disgusted and put entirely off of his meal.

Sai shook his head no, as Itachi expected he would, before sighing heavily, again, at all of the tedious things he would need to teach the boy as his new guardian. They had a long way to go.

* * *

Both Sai and Itachi had restless nights of sleep; Itachi because Kakashi wasn't in the house with him despite that it was Kakashi's apartment to begin with, and Sai because he'd never once slept without the fear of being killed in his sleep by one of the many people in the ROOT tunnels he'd considered something like his friends. It would likely take years of therapy to undo what Danzo had done to any of his agents, and Sai was no exception.

Despite the need to work out the kinks in their finely laid plan to accommodate their new addition, Sai seemed to take to his new training quite well. Itachi had asked him what his interests were and what he'd been training on prior to leaving ROOT, and Sai, for the most part, seemed to be honing a skill that Itachi had never really thought to explore for the simple fact that he was talented in many ways, but artistic talents weren't included in those particular skills. Of course, Itachi had to curse his luck at landing a child that owned a skill that could be used in bragging rights against him in the future, but that could be dealt with later. The bonus to Sai's drawing abilities was that they came from his imagination and that was useful in creating genjutsus for the Uchiha.

When it actually came to training, Sai was in paradise. Itachi had him drawing for hours on all manner of things that he could possibly conceptualize which ended up being fantastic practice for him in whipping out as many drawings as he possibly could in a particular time frame. After Itachi got past the initial unease of dealing with such a ninjutsu, it became quite apparent that there was quite a bit of versatility in Sai's drawings. Certainly, there was the traditional fuinjutsu, aesthetic appeal, and ability to attack and defend, but there was also the option of passing crucial information through the animations and creating an alternate means of travel. It would be extremely useful to the boy someday.

While Sai drew, Itachi took the time to study the drawings while animated and on paper. It was tedious, honestly, but Itachi had realized that conveniently crafted objects in genjutsus worked well in distracting and redirecting whomever was caught in the genjutsu world. Certainly, if it was intended as just a place to talk, he wouldn't need to bother, but Itachi had far bigger plans than that which was why he was taking the time to actually train Sai and learn something new at the same time.

"Sai, would you mind sending me another note?" Itachi asked trying to get down the movements of the little words as they scuttled or flew to him. He was tracking them with his Sharingan to keep track of their chakra signatures as well, but it never hurt to see them more than once just to be thorough.

He watched as several characters lifted themselves off their page to make their way to their intended recipient. They were mesmerizing in a way, and Itachi waited for each little character to place itself so that he could read what Sai had sent.

"You are a doodoo-head."

Sai was rolling in the grass in hysterical laughter. Whatever amused children, right? But Itachi was done with the antics of such a disrespectful little twit and took his time in reeling in his patience and making sure that Sai never caught on to just how much he got under his skin, especially after the last three condescending notes Sai had sent to Itachi upon his request.

That was certainly the perk to Sasuke. With his brother-worship, Itachi never had to worry about pranks or annoyances that typically came from siblings that were either closer in age or spent too much time together. He was relieved that Sai felt comfortable enough to make fun of him, but Itachi couldn't wait to ruin the boy's life with truly difficult training and merciless amounts of genjutsu torment since Sai really had it coming at this rate.

Once Sai had calmed from his hysterics, Itachi cleared his throat so that they might continue working. Sai straightened a bit at the noise, possibly some ingrained habit from his time in ROOT when he wasn't behaving, but heaved a heavy sigh before dropping his brush in the ink container once again.

"Why are we doing this? It's not that I don't like drawing, but this is far beyond the normal practice time. Don't we have something better to do?" Sai asked getting slightly frustrated with his guardian.

Itachi couldn't blame him as he truly was only ten, but the coup was happening in less than a week, and they would need every bit of practice and honing they could stand in order to make sure that everything was just right. "We keep going. Another couple hours and I'll let you get some rest," he pressed knowing the boy could take far more brutal training than this just based on the files he'd read of the other ROOT agents.

Sai was begrudged to do it, but he couldn't argue with a superior no matter how much he wanted to stop. Submission just came naturally to him and he would do as he was told so long as he was a ninja. It was simply the way his world worked.

Besides, drawing could never really hurt him, right?

* * *

Itachi made his way into town to find Shisui. He had decided to let Sai have some semblance of a break from his training, but he would need to earn that break through defeating his own creations in a genjutsu nap Itachi had put him under as soon as he'd gotten the chance. It wouldn't really hurt him, but he probably wouldn't get out of it until after dinner time which gave Itachi a few hours to find his cousin and transfer a few data points from training that would eventually help them out.

He happened to find his cousin enjoying a meal with none other than his little brother which puzzled the Uchiha heir.

"Ah, Itachi, fancy meeting you here," Shisui noted casually as he took another bite of barbecued pork.

At the mention of Itachi's name, Sasuke practically threw his chopsticks at the table to greet his older brother. "Nii-san!" he chirped before he realized the public setting and attempted to compose himself once more. Clearing his throat but keeping the bright-eyed grin, he continued, "Shisui-nii got me from the Academy for lunch like you did that one time. It's not as cool as when we went, but it's the best now that you're here. Right?"

Sasuke whipped in his seat to face Shisui as if the subtle insult hadn't caught his attention. Itachi stifled a laugh behind a cough before taking a seat next to his cousin so that Sasuke might not see the ANBU sign language they were exchanging under the table as they spoke.

"Sure, that's really great. Itachi sure is the best of big brothers," Shisui remarked snidely as he made room for Itachi before rapidly trying to explain the awkward situation of being caught having lunch with Sasuke when there was really nothing to warrant it. _This is weird, I know, but can't a person take his cute little cousin out once in awhile?_

_Try again, Shi. I know this has something to do with a particular someone in my household. Why didn't you just ask me?_ Itachi signed while asking Sasuke about what he was currently learning in school and if he'd made any new friends to spend his time with.

_Yes, very astute, but it's for a good cause. Sasuke's still just a child and not nearly what we were when we were his age. I mean, you were graduated to Jounin by the time you were ten. He's a child, and I won't do anything to corrupt his precious mind._

"It seems that I may have stepped in at a bad time if you've actually started hanging out with some of the people in your class over lunch," Shisui commented hearing that Sasuke had made friends and actually enjoyed a little bit of school despite his own semi-superior skill. "Didn't you say something about the girls in your class being a nightmare though?"

Sasuke rolled his eyes in exasperation towards the prepubescent nightmares that attended the Academy. "They are the worst! They just fol…"

_You're right. He is a CHILD which is the exact reason we don't involve him in anything. You know well enough that I have a hard enough time watching him learn what it takes to become a shinobi. If I had it my way, he'd stay in the village for the rest of his life just so that I wouldn't have to think up all the various ways the world out there could and would ruin him._

"... and I tried to shake them by hiding in a shop once and even then, they just never leave me alone!"

"Sounds like a rough life. I'm sorry to hear that, Sasuke, but I've already told you it'll get better at a later date," Itachi consoled glancing at Shisui just to see him knit his eyebrows together in thought of just how to go about their next order of business.

"Sasuke, how would you feel about a special training mission to help the village?"

Shocked that their cousin would even dare utter the words, let alone to Sasuke, Itachi had to take a moment not to set the entire restaurant on fire in a stunning fit of uncontrollable rage. Sasuke, for all he could, was trying to keep himself contained after his eyeballs nearly popped out of his head in shock. After that had worn off, he was ready to sail to the moon in excitement for the opportunity to work as a real shinobi and possibly right alongside his favorite big brother.

"Really, Shisui-nii? You really mean that?" Sasuke asked, incredulity in his voice with stars dancing around his midnight eyes.

"Yes, I mean it!" Shisui exclaimed while Itachi did his best not to choke on the water he'd wanted to use to cool himself off. Despite everything he'd ever been through as a shinobi, this was perhaps the most stressful ordeal he'd ever been put through and he'd seen a lot of shit in his day.

Attempting anything that might shut Shisui up for even a few seconds, Itachi resorted to the only true way to counter a sharingan user besides putting them under a genjutsu, putting everyone else around them under a genjutsu that they'd be unable to override so that you have their attention. It was much like what had happened in the bar on Itachi's first and last official police training day, but this proved far more urgent as Shisui was about to involve the one person that Itachi had done everything to keep out. The long-haired raven would have done anything to make Shisui stop.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked once he had ensured that everyone in the restaurant, including Sasuke, were no longer privy to their conversation.

"Well, I was inviting Sasuke to join us, in a sense. What were you expecting?"

"You were even going to invite him without telling me?" Itachi asked incredulously as he only accidentally stumbled upon this meeting of theirs. "I know you're an only child and have no idea what it's like having to care for a sibling, but there's a reason I've kept him out of this and you know that!"

Shisui shot Itachi an indignant look before sighing as his cousin came slightly undone. It was rare for any Uchiha, but Shisui knew that Itachi would react in this way no matter when Sasuke was introduced to real shinobi work. It might as well be in a controlled environment under Itachi's supervision, or at least that's how Shisui was going to sell it to him.

"You forget, cousin, that I would consider you more of my brother than if I had a sibling myself. Why don't you trust me with this? Clearly, I wouldn't do anything of actual harm to Sasuke as I know it would cause you harm. Have a little faith in me, won't you?" Shisui begged trying to coax Itachi into allowing his propositioning of Sasuke to continue. "If you'd like, you can be there every moment of the way."

Itachi paused in thought knowing that each of his cousin's points were valid and his argument was sound. He truly had no reason to hold Sasuke back other than his own selfish need to maintain his brother's child-like innocence and way of thinking. Plus, it would crush Sasuke to be denied after Shisui had already offered him the opportunity of a lifetime. It would crush his spirit in ways Itachi knew he'd feel guilty for and wasn't sure he wanted to witness.

"You bet your ass I'll be there every step of the way," he conceded grumbling to himself as he undid the genjutsu that set everyone else free.

Shisui smiled knowingly at him before turning his attention to his newly reanimated younger cousin. It could only get easier after that moment, at least when it came to them.

"What is our mission?" Sasuke asked, jumping right back into the conversation as soon as he was allowed.

"Well, what I need from you is…" Shisui began, but Itachi wasn't paying him much mind. He was feel the effects of bitter nostalgia that were only made worse as he studied his brother's baby-fat face that alit with every childish wonder imaginable. It was a moment with Sasuke that Itachi would cherish forever simply because it was likely the last moment he'd ever be a child again.

* * *

**Well, after nightmare formatting issues, here you go! I certainly hope everyone else is having a warmer spring than I am right now!**

**IPG**


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